thinks

Despite - or, potentially because of - their increasing popularity, some companies ban access to social networks. Does yours? Should they?

Does anyone remember “portals”? Back in the day, Yahoo, Lycos and Excite represented the primary destination for most consumers on the web. Then came Google. I think we’re poised to see the same happen again. Search engines, for all their importance today, face their greatest threat from social networks. Consumers have never cared who has the best algorithm. They don’t want to sift through multiple results simply to get the desired answer. They just want the answer. Put more succinctly, consumers don’t watch search engines; consumers want find engines.

So why social netowrks? John Battelle noted some time back, he pays more attention to what his contacts recommend than what he finds for himself. Seth provides a complementary point of view, and I think he’s right. Business depends - in part, at least - on how well you connect users with one another and permit them the tools to answer questions for the rest. Consider that MySpace and Yahoo account for over half of all impressions and Yahoo increasingly depends on social tools as part of its value proposition. If you think of the web as a network of nodes, consumers and businesses often want the quickest path to the node containing its required information. Google does the best job today of pointing folks there. Don’t expect that to remain the same. An infinite number of monkeys may prove more useful at producing great works.

PC World thinks Apple may have introduced Safari for Windows to generate search revenues. I’m not sure that makes total sense, but, clearly, it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. For many companies, search represents a significant source of traffic and, by extension, revenues. While conducting ethnographic research for a project, I was amazed by the number of consumers who went to Google or Yahoo and typed my company’s domain into the search box instead of the browser address bar. For many individuals, search is the web. But this model is changing. Given the recent backlash, and the growing ability of social networks to point folks in the right direction, Google may need to watch its back

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I don’t know if you read Engadget - I only scan it occasionally myself - but you owe it to yourself to check out Pete Rojas’ post about his father. We don’t get near enough time with those we love in our lives, a lesson I’ve learned this past year. Sometimes it happens suddenly, unexpectedly. Sometimes we suffer through it for a longer period. In either case, we don’t get as much time as we’d like, or as much as we think we deserve. I don’t care what your relationship is with your dad - or your mom, brother, sister or ex - give ’em a call. Tell them you love them. The rest is just details.

Google has a great doodle today. See…

I hope your day is as good, whether you’re a father, grandfather, or just make a difference in the life of a child. Rest easy today.

I love summer. No better time to grab some good reads, a favorite beverage, and enjoy the great outdoors. No TV. No video games. Not even, dare I say it, a computer. OK, maybe a computer. But next to that computer should be a stack of books. Here are a couple to start that stack with.

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch” is, without question, the funniest book ever written about the Apocalypse. The humor ranges from sophomoric to subtle as the clock winds down on mankind, with a distinctive British edge owing much to Monty Python. If Armageddon were ever to occur, I sincerely hope it follows this script. If not, I’ll enjoy the book and anticipate its ending instead.

If surreal British humor isn’t your thing, you might prefer Elmore Leonard’s “Be Cool”. This California noir is not quite mystery, not quite Hollywood satire, not quite sane. It is, however, entirely satisfying. Filled with quirky characters and crisp commentary, “Be Cool” creates a mood and draws you deeper into its circle of signature characters. A great book for a Sunday afternoon, sipping a mojito in the shade of palm trees. Or maples, oaks, or dogwoods, if that’s what your neighborhood provides. And if this breezy read strains you too much, you even have the choice of skipping the book and checking out the film version. But I’d read the book first.

First off, there’s the ongoing Google backlash at:

• Read/Write Web, where Josh Catone didn’t seem to like his other options, and…
• TechCrunch, where Arrington notes how eBay got up in Google’s grill - and yes, I did just write “up in Google’s grill.” My kids are rubbing off on me.
• Also at R/W Web, Richard MacManus poses the eternal question, “Were you master of your domain?”

Regarding the Facebook fallout,

• Anne Zelenka at Web Worker Daily lists ten things she hates about Facebook

Coincidentally, Anne revisits virtual organizations in her post, which she and I debated last week, and helps make my point (see hated item #10).

And, finally, two great pieces from

• Clay Shirky, who writes Old Revolutions Good, New Revolutions Bad: A Response to Gorman
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• Alex Iskold, over at Read/Write Web (again), who’s got a great post about “The Implicit Web” that may go down as a classic.