The Google PR Machine Comes Out With Guns Blazin’
Posted by Nick O'Neill on October 31st, 2007 4:28 PMLast night Mike Arrington broke the news that Google is supposedly launching the OpenSocial tomorrow. Soon after I posted a response questioning the validity of this. Throughout the day I have been pinging people involved with Google’s new platform and everybody came back with the same response: “this is definitely news to me.” According to a number of sources Google will simply be announcing a new standard that enables developers to interact directly with the partnering social platforms.
In the coming months, Google is hoping that social platforms will announce that they use the “OpenSocial Standard,” designed and developed by Google. This standard is simply a public extension of the Orkut platform API and is similar to the iGoogle API. It sounds like Google just played a successful game of chicken in which they were able to convince a number of companies to sign something saying that they are non-exclusive “partners,” and will commit to supporting the OpenSocial standard.
In a sort of abstract way, the new standard is similar to the failed XFN standard. Given Google’s leverage in the industry, they were able to convince a number of less significant partners to join them in pursuit of Facebook. The funny thing here is that Google was unable to convince the two biggest players: Facebook and MySpace to join in the party. One unnamed source that I spoke with compared this to George Bush’s alliance in Iraq which was called the “coalition of the willing.” That alliance included the powerful armies of Nicaragua, Tonga, Hungary, Portugal and a number of other countries.
While this new platform should not be discounted as meaningless, the partnering platforms are not ready to launch yet. Hi5 and a couple other partners will be demoing the service at tomorrow’s announcement but none of the platforms are officially ready for launch. Rumor has it that the Orkut platform won’t be ready for launch until December 1st. However this pans out, one thing is certain: the Google P.R. machine may just be the most effective P.R. machine in the industry.
(4.64 out of 5)
(4.22 out of 5)
October 31st, 2007 at 3:40 pm
I don’t understand why you seem so defensive against this announcement (both here and on other site comments). Relax. As Marc said in his post, whether or not facebook joins this initiative it’s a good thing for facebook (and, more importantly, for us all).
The ‘coalition of the willing’ may have been a coalition of nobodies, but who was leading it? Regardless of the immediate support, this is a great initiative by a great company.
October 31st, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Hi reader,
I completely agree with you that this could be big given the power of Google. What I was simply questioning was whether or not this is it all going down tomorrow? It’s not and this is going to be a drawn out process not an overnight event. It was portrayed by the media (primarily Google’s PR group … not just the other blogs) as being a huge launch tomorrow.
That helped them get a bunch of press by spinning the story. Great move by the Google PR team but it’s a bit misleading. No?
Best,
Nick
October 31st, 2007 at 3:56 pm
If anything, I should have been more critical of the PR team and not as much the people that simply reported about it. That’s the main point of this post in addition to a little bit of embellishment
October 31st, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I don’t understand why you seem so defensive against this announcement (both here and on other site comments). Relax. As Marc said in his post, whether or not facebook joins this initiative it’s a good thing for facebook (and, more importantly, for us all).
The ‘coalition of the willing’ may have been a coalition of nobodies, but who was leading it? Regardless of the immediate support, this is a great initiative by a great company.
October 31st, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Hi reader,
I completely agree with you that this could be big given the power of Google. What I was simply questioning was whether or not this is it all going down tomorrow? It’s not and this is going to be a drawn out process not an overnight event. It was portrayed by the media (primarily Google’s PR group … not just the other blogs) as being a huge launch tomorrow.
That helped them get a bunch of press by spinning the story. Great move by the Google PR team but it’s a bit misleading. No?
Best,
Nick
October 31st, 2007 at 4:56 pm
If anything, I should have been more critical of the PR team and not as much the people that simply reported about it. That’s the main point of this post in addition to a little bit of embellishment
November 1st, 2007 at 12:28 am
[...] O’Neill ?All Facebook?????The Google PR Machine Comes Out With Guns Blazin’?? Throughout the day I have been pinging people involved with Google’s new platform and [...]
November 1st, 2007 at 8:31 am
Nick, I have not seen anything to lead me to believe that GOOG PR was behind “the rumors”. If anything, you and the rest of the blogisphere gave this more PR than anyone could have. It really doesn’t matter what day the announcements are made and what day the code is finished and revealed. What matters are the months ahead: will FB get any traction with advertisers?
You seem highly critical of GOOG as the giant and none to skeptical of FB as the underdog. I can’t even call FB a David at this point. All they are is potential. Unproven potential at that. THAT is the story here.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:33 am
Honestly, it’s the title of your post that is entirely misleading.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:35 am
Hi Nate,
I just wrote a post that says that OpenSocial still has a chance of succeeding. I don’t want to discount them. Honestly though, the initial stories were all based on a Google press release that you can read here:
http://battellemedia.com/archives/004058.php
I’m sorry but there is nothing misleading about my title at all.
Best,
Nick
November 1st, 2007 at 9:08 am
Nick, we don’t know if someone up at the top or someone in the trenches leaked this to Battelle. This is not a GOOG press release. Therefore, it’s innuendo. Rumor. And the blogisphere spread it. That was my point.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:20 am
Nate,
You say that as if you work at Google but your email address is a Yahoo one. Additionally, it definitely was a real press release because it’s the same one the NYTimes used to create their article.
Best,
Nick
November 1st, 2007 at 9:31 am
Nick, I have not seen anything to lead me to believe that GOOG PR was behind “the rumors”. If anything, you and the rest of the blogisphere gave this more PR than anyone could have. It really doesn’t matter what day the announcements are made and what day the code is finished and revealed. What matters are the months ahead: will FB get any traction with advertisers?
You seem highly critical of GOOG as the giant and none to skeptical of FB as the underdog. I can’t even call FB a David at this point. All they are is potential. Unproven potential at that. THAT is the story here.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:33 am
Honestly, it’s the title of your post that is entirely misleading.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:35 am
Hi Nate,
I just wrote a post that says that OpenSocial still has a chance of succeeding. I don’t want to discount them. Honestly though, the initial stories were all based on a Google press release that you can read here:
http://battellemedia.com/archives/004058.php
I’m sorry but there is nothing misleading about my title at all.
Best,
Nick
November 1st, 2007 at 9:37 am
Look, we can agree to disagree. It says and looks like a GOOG press release but it is dated Nov 1 and was posted by Battelle Oct 30. At best it was leaked, (granted, possibly intentionally by someone high up at GOOG but we just don’t know), at worst it was fabricated and we will never see an official version from GOOG. In any event, it was not “officially” released by Google: http://googlepress.blogspot.com/
November 1st, 2007 at 9:38 am
….and therefore should not be relied upon as official company news…..
November 1st, 2007 at 9:50 am
Lol … you must not have dealt with P.R. people
November 1st, 2007 at 10:08 am
Nick, we don’t know if someone up at the top or someone in the trenches leaked this to Battelle. This is not a GOOG press release. Therefore, it’s innuendo. Rumor. And the blogisphere spread it. That was my point.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:20 am
Nate,
You say that as if you work at Google but your email address is a Yahoo one. Additionally, it definitely was a real press release because it’s the same one the NYTimes used to create their article.
Best,
Nick
November 1st, 2007 at 10:37 am
Look, we can agree to disagree. It says and looks like a GOOG press release but it is dated Nov 1 and was posted by Battelle Oct 30. At best it was leaked, (granted, possibly intentionally by someone high up at GOOG but we just don’t know), at worst it was fabricated and we will never see an official version from GOOG. In any event, it was not “officially” released by Google: http://googlepress.blogspot.com/
November 1st, 2007 at 10:38 am
….and therefore should not be relied upon as official company news…..
November 1st, 2007 at 10:50 am
Lol … you must not have dealt with P.R. people
November 1st, 2007 at 12:32 pm
[...] is quickly spreading that Google’s OpenSocial is more of a PR triumph than engineering feat. Even partners, such as Friendster, for example, want to make sure you know [...]
November 1st, 2007 at 4:46 pm
MySpace and Google Join Forces to Launch Open Platform for Social Application Development
Collaboration on “OpenSocial” to Spark and Simplify Web Innovation
LOS ANGELES & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov 01, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — MySpace, the world’s largest social network, and Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced that they are joining forces to launch OpenSocial– a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. The partnership spearheads an initiative to standardize and simplify the development of social applications. Today’s announcement underscores MySpace’s commitment to supporting standards that foster innovation in an increasingly social Web.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:58 pm
We’re all citizens of a larger Web–no network is an island onto itself,” said Aber Whitcomb, CTO of MySpace. “We look forward to continuing to develop great technology with Google and all of the OpenSocial participants. It’s exciting that social networks are getting social with each other.”
The launch of OpenSocial is the first release of technical details for the forthcoming MySpace Platform. Starting tonight, developers can start writing applications for OpenSocial at http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial which the MySpace Platform will support at launch.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:46 pm
MySpace and Google Join Forces to Launch Open Platform for Social Application Development
Collaboration on “OpenSocial” to Spark and Simplify Web Innovation
LOS ANGELES & MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov 01, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) — MySpace, the world’s largest social network, and Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced that they are joining forces to launch OpenSocial– a set of common APIs for building social applications across the web. The partnership spearheads an initiative to standardize and simplify the development of social applications. Today’s announcement underscores MySpace’s commitment to supporting standards that foster innovation in an increasingly social Web.
November 1st, 2007 at 5:58 pm
We’re all citizens of a larger Web–no network is an island onto itself,” said Aber Whitcomb, CTO of MySpace. “We look forward to continuing to develop great technology with Google and all of the OpenSocial participants. It’s exciting that social networks are getting social with each other.”
The launch of OpenSocial is the first release of technical details for the forthcoming MySpace Platform. Starting tonight, developers can start writing applications for OpenSocial at http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial which the MySpace Platform will support at launch.