Google and Trust

Still, the bigger Google gets, the more trust will become an issue. I think they need to look at alternatives. Why not, for example, establish an appeals panel made up of advertisers and users to adjudicate issues such as SourceTool's? This would require Google to hand down its laws — or more to the point to draft its constitution: the definitions for good sites rather than spam, not in algorithm-busting detail but as high-level goals.

But another Google era wrinkle appears: scale. When the web is developing by the minute, it’s impossible — and potentially limiting and dangerous — to write even the broadest definition of what’s good. And your good is not necessarily mine.

It’s all about trust. The question will be whether I trust Google or the government or the market more.

Jeff Jarvis on...


...Google and Trust.