Google and Facebook: voracious giants with the power to create the future

The internet powerhouses are using their billions to challenge in sectors far removed from their original business modelsThe webs biggest consumer companies make the bulk of their incomes, and have built up vast assets, from targeted advertising. It accounts for around 90% of Facebooks revenue and much the same for Google. By supporting a vast range of services that variously offer search, chat, email, file storage, video and photo-sharing, they can track every nuance of online activity, preference and behaviour, targeting and adapting advertising and services.Yet with such a simple and lucrative core business, Facebook and Google are investing significant sums in new, exploratory and seemingly unrelated technologies. Facebook astonished the industry with its $2bn acquisition of Oculus Rift, a promising but niche and untested virtual reality headset. Google X, the companys notionally secretive experimental wing, has bought 14 specialist startups since March 2013, covering robotics, machine learning and gesture recognition, but has also been developing Googles self-driving car project, the augmented reality Google Glass headset and Project Loon, which is developing ways of using a network of balloons in the stratosphere to bring internet connectivity to developing regions. Why? Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #oculus rift #machine learning

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Google and Facebook: voracious giants with the power to create the future'


Continuing charm offensive, Facebook creates tool to boost news publishers’ reach on the platform

Facebook has been testing a tool with five publishers including BuzzFeed to help them improve their reach on the platform. The post Continuing charm offensive, Facebook creates tool to boost news publishers’ reach on the platform appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-08-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google AMP beat Facebook Instant Articles, but publishers start to question AMP’s benefits

A new Chartbeat study found only one-third of publishers see clear evidence of a traffic increase from the fast-loading articles format. The post Google AMP beat Facebook Instant Articles, but publishers start to question AMP’s benefits appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-08-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google and Facebook are strangling the free press to death. Democracy is the loser | Barry Lynn

As gatekeepers to the news, Google and Facebook pose dangers to even the most successful outlets. Legislators need to speed the process of bringing them to heelAfter Europe’s top monopoly buster Margrethe Vestager fined Google more than $5bn for abusing its dominance over mobile phone... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-07-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Will Facebook and Google really help drive subscriptions?

Google and Facebook are making a big show of demonstrating their interest in helping news publishers. The post Will Facebook and Google really help drive subscriptions? appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook creates Orwellian headache as news is labelled politics

Archive of political content becomes batleground between publishers and platformsGeorge Orwell wrote in his essay Politics and the English Language: “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’. All issues are political issues.” When Facebook constructed a new archive of... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google is using Facebook fatigue to woo publishers

Through mounds of grants, training and in-house expertise, Google’s impact on the publishing business is pervasive. The post Google is using Facebook fatigue to woo publishers appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Are Seeing Traffic From More Than Just Facebook and Google

For publishers, the past two years were a lesson in chasing traffic and finding the true value of an audience. Some have shut down and others have undergone layoffs. The ever-growing threat of a simple algorithm change continues to loom over publishers, but Parse.ly's latest traffic report has a... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2018-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘I feel optimistic about the future of news’: Google’s Richard Gingras says the company’s success depends on the health of publishers

Google's vp of news says the company wants to enable the success of news publishers, but that direct payments come with pitfalls. The post ‘I feel optimistic about the future of news’: Google’s Richard Gingras says the company’s success depends on the health of publishers appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-06-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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CalSTRS hammers Facebook for entrenching Zuckerberg — but does it have the power to force a change?

The California State Teachers Retirement System, which carries a huge amount of stock market clout as the state’s second largest public pension fund, recently had some very harsh words for Facebook, one of its largest investments. In an op-ed published Wednesday in the Financial Times, Aeisha... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Are Google and Facebook Undermining Europe's Privacy Rules?

Regulators, publishers, and privacy watchdogs say moves by the tech giants may leave European internet users no better off. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2018-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mic faces an uncertain future in a post-Facebook world

Mic isn’t alone in trying to survive the distributed media landscape, but other publishers have been further ahead in increasing traffic to their own sites. The post Mic faces an uncertain future in a post-Facebook world appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Martin Lewis is right to take on Facebook – it has too much power | Ellie Mae O’Hagan

As some publishers try to clean up rogue online advertising, the platform has been slow to act on complaints. Time for regulationOne of the ways Facebook has been able to get away with some pretty questionable behaviour over the years is that exploiting users’ data is an abstract problem that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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​Facebook and Google executives clash over ‘fake news’

A head-to-head debate between the executives leading Facebook and Google’s efforts to court publishers revealed sharp divisions between the two internet companies’ approaches to stemming “fake news” and disinformation. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2018-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While Facebook battles fires, Google rolls out pro-publisher initiatives

The tech giant introduced measures to let people subscribe to publications through Google and give more priority to quality news sources in search results. The post While Facebook battles fires, Google rolls out pro-publisher initiatives appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers Could Get a New Weapon Against Facebook and Google

Proposal would grant publishers an antitrust exemption to seek concessions from tech giants, who dominate online advertising. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2018-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Even Barack Obama thinks Facebook and Google need to change their ways

The first president to have a Twitter account thinks social media needs to change. In what was supposed to be an off-the-record speech at MIT’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference on Friday, Barack Obama shared his concerns about how social media has un-united these states of ours. Libertarian... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2018-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google and Facebook make up less than 5 percent of publishers’ digital revenue

Revenue from third-party platforms represented 16 percent of publishers' total digital revenue in the first half of 2017 -- nearly unchanged from a year earlier. The post Google and Facebook make up less than 5 percent of publishers’ digital revenue appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch to Facebook, Google: Pay for news

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch — the executive chairman of News Corporation, and the big boss at Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal — has a message to Silicon Valley's social media giants: Pay up. Murdoch's specific targets Monday were Facebook and Alphabet's Google, two... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2018-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Google AMP beat Facebook Instant Articles

Google's investment in AMP, its fast-loading article pages, has helped the search giant overtake Facebook in publisher referral traffic. The post How Google AMP beat Facebook Instant Articles appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘The future of cable’: Looking beyond Facebook, publishers eye streaming TV bundles

Cheddar, Newsy, The Young Turks and other media outlets want to bundle up with online TV services from Sling, Hulu and YouTube. The post ‘The future of cable’: Looking beyond Facebook, publishers eye streaming TV bundles appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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