Today I had a very thought provoking lunch with Google. Invite courtesy of Ed Vaizey (thanks Ed).
Before I write about thoughts provoked, I had already began to ponder over the last little while: the rate of change that technology brings about and how quickly we adapt.
For example, all the young people who put CDs on their Christmas lists didn’t this year. It was the first Christmas I didn’t buy any CDs. The girls download all their music.
At a school assembly last week, I watched as the Headmistress logged onto Google Earth on the White board. This was because it was the first day in the school for a Canadian little girl whose parents are in the area for two years.
She was able to show us the aerial view of her farm and school. It was quite amazing.
Today I saw a development of this, Google Street. Really a step up from Google Map, you can click onto the road and see a picture of the road in detail at any point. Faces and number plates are blurred and if you don’t like the idea of your home being seen, you can ask to have it taken out of the shot. It really was quite amazing. You can see a view of any street, or will be able to soon when it’s launched.
I was amazed at some of the statistics. 15 hours of video uploaded onto You Tube every hour. One in three people in the online community post a comment each day. 60% of people surf the net whilst watching TV.
Our discussion focused around security and content. Interesting to hear that Google’s perception of the future more or less spells a vastly diminished role for newspapers, and a rise in the status of the celebrity journalist and blogger.
Individual writing and style will become king in the world of the written word.
I love Google, I don’t go a day without using it, However, I have to admit, I did get a kind of ‘taking over the world’ feeling during the lunch.
The ability for anyone to post anything, true or not, and for Google to list sites in descending order thereby ultimately influencing opinion and thought, surely must one day have an implication for Government?
In this rapidly changing world it’s just a matter of time.