Ben Ayers

Google Vice President and ‘Chief Internet Evangelist’ Vint Cerf explains how Open Social can bridge the gap between advertising and PR. According to Vint, we call advertising ‘advertising’ when it’s something we are not interested in. When we are presented with something we are interested in, we call it ‘information’.

This of course is the secret of Google’s success and why the company is so valuable - the ability to target users with information that is relevant (so it’s no longer advertising). Vint explains beautifully how social media, the products and sources that allow us to share information and recommendations (Digg, Twitter, Facebook etc), are the key to making information, when shared with influential and relevant people, burst forth into mainstream popular culture.  With all this lovely information targetted at the right people who want to hear it, ideas and desires can spread like wildfire.

Vint hits the nail on the head, explaining why targetted advertising - something closer in pedigree to PR than billboards and banners - is actually the future of business driving communications. It also explains why the PR and marketing departments of old media companies are increasingly crossing over in a bid to capitalise in this new frontier. I believe the key for them in order to succeed is to work together, not build their own empires and grab land. (Sound familiar magazine editorial people?)

These are exciting times. And you can bet that if Google think this is the way it’s gonna go, then really, it’s the way it’s gonna go.