Google Introduces Fast Flip And Shares Revenue With Publishers For The First Time

Posted under Business Hollywood Launches Media web2.0
on Monday, 14 September 2009
by admin

Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 summed it up the best, Google understands web publishing and the web better than publishers. So while the men in the business of news (and the women for that matter) are all busy thinking better models of business to survive in digital medium, Google has come out with an all new way to access and read news. With Fast Flip, Google makes news a more print like commodity and delivers and innovation that perhaps publishers should have been the first to try. And to make it happen Google has also gone out of its usual ways and done a revenue share with publishers.

google shares revenue

The idea behind Flip Fast as one can gauge from the name is to make browsing faster. The enormous amount of news and content that is available on the web makes sure that loading a news site is pain to the eyes and a load on even the fastest browsers in high broadband. Google considers that a print like solution where we can flip through to the content that we need like in a magazine is what the web needs.

The flow should feel seamless and let you rapidly flip forward to the content you like, without the constant wait for things to load. Imagine taking 10 seconds to turn the page of a print magazine!

So with that in mind Google has now introduced Google Fast Flip.

Like a print magazine, Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual top publishers.

Google has tired up with over 40 big names in publishing to aggregate content on Fast Flip. The full list includes BBC News, Billboard, BusinessWeek, Center for Investigative Reporting, Center for Public Integrity, Christian Science Monitor, CosmoGirl, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire, Fast Company, FRONTLINE, Foreign Policy, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, Men’s Journal, National Geographic, National Review Online, New York Times, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics, ProPublica, Quick & Simple, Redbook, SPIN, Salon, Seventeen, Slate, Smithsonian, TechCrunch, Technology Review, Teen, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, The Daily Green, US Magazine, Veranda, Washington Post. (Source NiemanJournalismLab)

Why Did These Publishers Join the Game?

This years has been in the news with various voices talking various things about web publishing. From mainstream media complaining about Google using their content to fill its cash coffers to big shots calling for paid models of content distribution. Even Bill Gates wanted Google to share revenue .In all the hoopla what remained was a stagnant manner of disposing news to site visitors.

Google for the first time has taken a step in both directions. It has fundamentally changed the way news is displayed, which is a far shot from the way search results and Google news functions. Also and more importantly it has decided to share revenue with the publishers from whom content is being sourced and aggregated. By all means I think it is fair to think Google would be having a major share on this project considering it is their initiative. However, for an industry grappling with debt, and dipping revenues any new way to get hold of more ad dollars would be a welcome change.

Though Martin A. Nisenholtz SVP of Digital Ops at NY Times did point to a fear perhaps prevalent in more publishers, one that of Fast Flip adding to their woes if it becomes successful. He said it is a concern though that shouldn’t be mean you don’t participate. Like I mentioned, everyone is looking at an opening that can help them survive and grow.

This is what the Fast Flip interface looks like:

The interface somehow reminded me of a Yahoo search results page that they were trying out last year, though it is not quite the same.

A point however on whether this move would be appreciated in general is that of an old web design argument. Sometime back when CSS was gaining ground over simple HTML an argument arose when someone tried a split column to display text. Like we see in magazine, that given the limitation of vertical length the article is split into 2 or more columns on the same page. A lto of designers suggested it is not the best move considering web doesn’t have size limitations at least vertically. They said web needs to use its strength and it is best to leave articles in a single bottom scrolling column. While the debate died down and more or less all sites adopted to the latter point., it would be interesting to see how this move is viewed by usability experts.

Another important question would also be how smaller publishers would want to get into this league and if Google would make it possible for them to be part of it. Obviously it wold be a great boost to traffic and revenue for the independent publishers the web produced over the years. And that’s a juicy carrot that Google is dangling with Fast Flip.