On a Panel at The Royal Society for a YouGovStone debate on "Where's the influence: Google v Murdoch?".
Also speaking, David Elstein, Brent Hoberman, Julie Meyer, Peter Barron from Google and Sky's Adam Boulton. Andrew Neil in the Chair.
Consensus: the motion is wrong to pitch a person against an organisation. In the short to medium term influence is with Print and in particular Murdoch. In the medium to long term, however, it flows Google's way.
David Elstein made the anti-competitive complaints about Google that he often makes about the BBC and offered a historical perspective - big companies come and go, but Murdoch has been steadily growing for 50 years.
Brent Hoberman was powerful in challenging Google for the risk their market dominance presents. In the end there is no transparency around how their algorithm works - or why some sites fall from first to a hundredth in search rankings overnight. Adam Boulton suggests regulation may come in as a consequence. So - Google is the new Microsoft.
I talk about the growing importance of engagement over reach in driving ad revenues and atomising content undermining brands. Julie Meyer talks about VRM, the trade-off of personal information and identity for levels of service, and how market dominance can be undermined by entrepreneurialism.
Peter Barron was deft in correcting myths and deflecting criticism with grace and humour. Being a BBC editor turns out to be the perfect training for a Google Director of Comms....
We all seem to agree that, in the end, influence lies with the consumer. A couple of people Tweeted it under hashtag #ygs
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