Google SVP Jonathan Rosenberg wrote a lengthy essay which celebrated Google’s role in making the world’s information accessible. He’s now made it publicly available  (with suitable edits, he says).

One section spoke of the role of newspapers in this information and technology-rich  world. It’s worth repeating as is creates a vision for what should be possible in a modern news organisation which was properly focussed on its readers.

The experience of consuming news on the web today fails to take full advantage of the power of technology. It doesn’t understand what users want in order to give them what they need. When I go to a site like the New York Times or the San Jose Mercury, it should know what I am interested in and what has changed since my last visit. If I read the story on the US stimulus package only six hours ago, then just show me the updates the reporter has filed since then (and the most interesting responses from readers, bloggers, or other sources). If Thomas Friedman has filed a column since I last checked, tell me that on the front page. Beyond that, present to me a front page rich with interesting content selected by smart editors, customized based on my reading habits (tracked with my permission). Browsing a newspaper is rewarding and serendipitous, and doing it online should be even better. This will not by itself solve the newspapers’ business problems, but our heritage suggests that creating a superior user experience is the best place to start.

Quite a challenge for content-obsessed news organisations, but one which is worth taking up.

Facebook has created a storm of comment around it’s change of ts & cs. Techcrunch illustrates the problems of data ownership in social networks perfectly in a post on the subject. Describing the argument of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Techcrunch writes:

Essentially, he says that the issues are not so cut and dry. When you share your data with someone else, whether it be an email or a photo, it becomes their data as well. You cannot normally rescind data you share with other people in an e-mail. So why should a social network be any different?

But as Techcrunch points out that is tantamount to saying "trust us" – something which becomes harder and harder to do.

UPDATE: Facebook reverts to old Ts & Cs "for now".

Steve Rubel, Edelman’s "Director of Insights" (great title) has produced a sensible white paper of five digital trends to watch in 2009. They are:

Satisfaction Guaranteed – Customer care and PR are blending as consumers use social media to demand service

Media Reforestation -  The media is in a constant state of reinvention as it transitions from atoms to bits

Less is the New More – Overload takes its toll. Gorging on media is out. Selective ignorance and friends as filters are in

Corporate All-Stars – Workers flock to social media to build their personal brands, yet offer employers an effective and credible way to market in the downturn

The Power of Pull -  Where push once ruled, it’s now equally important to create digital content that people discover through search

Download the full PDF whitepaper here.

I spent part of the weekend updating the sales records and mailing list of my other half and talented artist Gail Brodholt. In the past I’ve kept this on Excel spreadsheets which are very good for mail-merging.

This time round, though, I thought I would experiment with Google Docs. The formatting and spreadsheet functionality is definitely not as fully-developed as Excel, but I discovered Gadgets – one which displays all her past sales on a world map – brilliant! – and one which adds a layer of sophisticated analysis so that we can see how much comes from Art Fairs as opposed to galleries etc.

The other really interesting possibility is the addition of a form, which Google Docs makes a breeze. Once this is emailed to a mobile phone there is now a simple way to update this spreadsheet from anywhere. And anyone can do it.

All this is possible because Google has a powerful platform which it can plug together to offer really powerful possibilities.

Last week there were reports that Google was looking to allow downloading of HD video from YouTube. As it has the Checkout payment platform, it has not only a business model, but the means to make it stick.

The power is in the platform. 

Mashable reports that YouTube will be adding a download option to some videos, which will include the option to add payments via the Google Checkout service. This opens up the possiblity, notes Mashable, that YouTube could become a competitor to iTunes, especially in the mobile space. Interesting.

Separately, Google has pulled out of selling radio ads, a decision which follows an earlier pull-out from print ad sales. Digital all the way, then…

It’s a real sign of the times – Techcrunch reports that Google has bought a paper mill. The disused mill is in Finland and apparently cost €40m.

Tools of Change Twitter tidbits is Teleread’s account of how Twitter is changing the way real world events work (in this case at TOC), from a back channel of conversation going on in parallel to the one of the stage, to the phenomenon of people changing conference tracks based on which look more interesting on Twitter. Interesting.

Great advice here on how to scale website so they show up properly on an iPhone. Easy really.

Interesting editorial in the FT about the changing role of Private Equity in a world where easy, cheap debt is much harder to find and where the old tactics of cost reduction and sell-on no longer look tenable. Worth a read.