In today’s day and age, Google is the premiere source for anything anyone needs to know about anything…ever. You can see who the general was for the United States Navy in World War II, find the recipe for the perfect chicken wings, or see what Justin Bieber did at his party last week. It has a myriad of knowledge waiting to surface at any individuals fingertips that others have placed on the internet willingly and without the need for compensation, and other information that some may say was “stolen” by Google.
People put articles, information, and products on the internet for many different reasons, but for the individuals who are trying to make money, chances are their livelihoods rely on it. From the huge corporation to the casual blogger, many want compensation for the products they put out onto the internet, but with the huge control Google has over the internet, and standing behind the “free information exchange” ideal, some are getting shafted.
When you search for what happened in last nights playoff game, Google will give you a quick summary of the score and any important facts that a particular website has laid out for the audience. Do you need to know any more? If not, it’s on to the next search without clicking on a websites URL, thus not crediting the website with your view, not giving them an accurate depiction of their audience, and not giving them the money that would normally be owed to them by advertisers. Is this fair to them? Is it enough to know that the MAJORITY of viewers will click the link to see individual stats, plays etc.? Or should each website get money for each summary that is viewed by a consumer?
Also, with the advent of Google, information is shared completely rapidly. A story that one website breaks will be viewed, almost immediately, by thousands of other people and corporations looking to get more views, clicks, and likes and subsequently summarized, copied, or re-written for the new producer for it’s own consumers, even looking to pick up a couple new one’s in the meantime.
The problem? In the internet world, it’s not who broke it, who wrote it, or who claims it first, it’s who gets it to the most consumers. A story broken in the Wall Street Journal could potentially be viewed mostly on the CNN website, thus giving CNN the bulk of the cash that will flow from a story.
I’m not claiming to know the answer, as I will continue to Google something, read the synopsis, or click on the first link that is there just as anyone else would. I am claiming, however, to know that this seems like a primitive way of going about something so futuristic as the internet that the “geniuses” who come up with these great, world-changing, ideas should, could, and hopefully will, eventually get it right.