June BIF Bookgroup Selection Is In! Reading Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do?

Posted by Chris Flanagan on June 15, 2009

The June BIF Bookgroup selection is in. This month we will be reading What Would Google Do? by noted blogger, digital journalist and BIF-5 storyteller Jeff Jarvis. The book chronicles Jeff’s effort to not only reverse-engineer the success of Google in the Internet economy but also help people apply those laws and lessons to their own industry, company or career.

“In a sense the book really isn’t about Google, it’s about the changes in the world. I figure the best way to understand these really fundamental, volcanic changes that are going on in the economy and society is to look at it through the viewpoint of Google. I’m not even sure if they understand their viewpoint because it’s so much in their DNA. If you try to analyze it or reverse engineer Google’s success through that worldview I think you start to see ways that it sees the world differently and how they operate.

This is all the more relevant in this financial crisis, which I think is more than just a crisis, it’s a restructuring. Companies in the past always succeeded because they had control. They owned a lot of stuff and they borrowed a lot of money to buy a lot of stuff. There’s not going to be much of that for a while. Google, on the other hand, grows by building networks and platforms that enable other people to succeed and as they succeed Google succeeds. That’s a fundamental change in the way that companies operate.” Jeff Jarvis Interview, March 19, 2009

A few more notable things about Jeff Jarvis:

• He’s a former TV critic and founder of Entertainment Weekly. (Honestly, I think I was subscriber number 10 when it launched in 1990.)

• He’s one of the most provocative and optimistic voices weighing in the future of media, technology and business today with a new media column for The Guardian and host of its Media Talk USA podcast. Check out his latest post "User-generated Content is Only the Beginning."

• He is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism.

• He’ll be sharing his story at the BIF-5 Summit on October 7th and 8th in Providence, Rhode Island. (Can't wait to meet him!)

I’d also like to welcome Andrea Meyer, CEO of Working Knowledge who will serve as our moderator and conversation catalyst. Andrea is an amazing writer on innovation, strategy and productivity. If you don’t follow her blog, you’re missing some great insight. Stay tuned for her first discussion beginning the week of June 20th. In the meantime, go get the book and happy reading!