Comments on: newspapers to google: ’show us the money’ http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/ Insight and opinion from the world of employment. Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:41:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Colin Kingsbury http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/#comment-462 Colin Kingsbury Thu, 02 Feb 2006 06:07:33 +0000 http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/#comment-462 There's a very bad meme taking shape here, and it's that Google somehow owes the rest of the 'net a cut of their action, because without all of us putting free content out there, there'd be no traffic for Google to monetize. It's as if there's a giant city on an island, and Google gets to rent billboards on the bridge. But, the point here is that while Google may not have built the island, it did build that bridge. Moreover, there are no obstacles to anyone else building their own (better) bridges, and selling their own billboards. The newspapers here are in a somewhat unique position. For years they produced content at a loss, in order to sell ads at a profit. The content built the audience that made the ads valuable. The Internet made it feasible to unbundle these things, and Monster and eBay were really the first to draw blood. Monster is comparatively in an easy spot. They're still the gateway to the world for most employers, and I just don't see that changing anytime soon. People bitch about the price and quality, but they still buy the ads. There are better ways to get traffic (resumes) for your job openings, but they all take a lot more time and brains to implement. Not to mention that the verticals are not building a resume database, which is clearly a major revenue center for the big boards. A handful of people in 2005 talked about cutting bak on boards and using more tools like Jobster; it will be interesting to see how those pan out in 2006. My guess is it will be another growth year for the boards everyone loves to hate. There’s a very bad meme taking shape here, and it’s that Google somehow owes the rest of the ‘net a cut of their action, because without all of us putting free content out there, there’d be no traffic for Google to monetize. It’s as if there’s a giant city on an island, and Google gets to rent billboards on the bridge.

But, the point here is that while Google may not have built the island, it did build that bridge. Moreover, there are no obstacles to anyone else building their own (better) bridges, and selling their own billboards.

The newspapers here are in a somewhat unique position. For years they produced content at a loss, in order to sell ads at a profit. The content built the audience that made the ads valuable. The Internet made it feasible to unbundle these things, and Monster and eBay were really the first to draw blood.

Monster is comparatively in an easy spot. They’re still the gateway to the world for most employers, and I just don’t see that changing anytime soon. People bitch about the price and quality, but they still buy the ads. There are better ways to get traffic (resumes) for your job openings, but they all take a lot more time and brains to implement. Not to mention that the verticals are not building a resume database, which is clearly a major revenue center for the big boards. A handful of people in 2005 talked about cutting bak on boards and using more tools like Jobster; it will be interesting to see how those pan out in 2006. My guess is it will be another growth year for the boards everyone loves to hate.

]]> By: Peter Gold http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/#comment-461 Peter Gold Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:26:35 +0000 http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/#comment-461 Interesting thoughts as ever. Interesting thoughts as ever.

]]> By: Peter Gold http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/#comment-460 Peter Gold Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:25:01 +0000 http://www.cheezhead.com/2006/02/01/newspapers-to-google-show-us-the-money/#comment-460 So, the job boards have to start to pay the customer to list their jobs as it is these jobs that attract the applicant so that the job board can entice them to deposit their CV which, seems to be one of the main things that the job board sees as value! Can't see the employers being this smart so they'll continue to pay silly prices to job boards who don't fill that many of their jobs. Too much herd mentality.... sheeps, cows, lemmings and any others you can think of. But then maybe..... So, the job boards have to start to pay the customer to list their jobs as it is these jobs that attract the applicant so that the job board can entice them to deposit their CV which, seems to be one of the main things that the job board sees as value!

Can’t see the employers being this smart so they’ll continue to pay silly prices to job boards who don’t fill that many of their jobs. Too much herd mentality…. sheeps, cows, lemmings and any others you can think of. But then maybe…..

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