Google rarely fail in what they do. Wave failed.
Their efforts to break into radio advertising by purchasing dMarc in the US failed.
I’m struggling to think of another high profile failure, although perhaps the fact that Youtube appears to remain largely unmonitored is something that they would hardly describe as a success.
On a global basis, they have not yet succeeded in the social media space, although they have had some phenomenal local success with Orkut in both Brazil and India. Hardly the biggest digital economies right now, but both of those countries are likely to be very important for digital media owners in the comping years, so even their limited success is fairly significant. 100 million global users is not to be sniffed.
If the rumours prove to be true, and if Google are looking to increase their presence in this space with a more rounded, considered, global platform, then they face an uphill task – then again, when Alta Vista was the biggest search engine going, nobody would have thought that could be toppled, and where are they now?
Around 600 million people are regular users of Facebook. That’s roughly 1 in 10 people globally. Google have a long way to go if they are to catch up but, let’s face it, if anyone has the ability and track record to prove that they know how to take digital traffic from one place to another, that’s Google.
The digital world waits with baited breath……….
Dave Katz, Managing Director, UK
Ybrant Digital
