Eoin Purcell's Blog

Google Book Search seems to be on a charm offensive the last little while. The number of posts seems to have increased and seem also to focus on the usability, the features and the potential of the system both for the reader and the publishers.

Today’s post is no different and shows exactly what I mentioned in my last post on Google Book Search, the power of the blog and the site to market types of content. Argosy Arcadia Publishing must love these stories and the highlighting of their content. And Google have an interesting article on how to find such material in Google Book Search.

I wonder how long before Google Book Search makes user reviews a feature beside book results or ads editorial from is own staff? Or recommendations based on previous searches etc when you visit the page? Who will be he first to leverage the power of the search? The more I think about this service the more I think we are seeing a huge shift in power. It is slow burning and resisted but it seems inevitable.

I recall a saying that the only people who made money on gold rushes were those who sold shovel, picks and camping gear, well at the moment it appears Google is the equivalent of those sellers, supplying search services to the gold rushing content seekers and amazingly supplying services to the content owners too.