Google has drawn growing concerns among media companies that have questioned  whether the Internet giant can remain an unbiased competitor in the online content business, doubts that have increased since the Mountain View, California-based search leader released its Wikipedia-like Web encyclopedia service Knol in July. Blurring The Lines Between Content Conduit And Creator On the meteoric journey from its early days as just another search engine start-up among many to entering the world's lexicon as the primary way people find their way around the Web, Google has maintained its position as a guide more concerned with taking people to the information they want than with authoring it. Along the way towards the top Google has, however, quietly maneuvered into areas where its role as Internet conduit has become blurred with that of content creator, through such giant acquisitions as its $1.66 billion purchase of the leading video content site YouTube in 2006 and with its successful blogging service Blogger. These and other Google-owned Web properties have recently drawn a second look from some of the top media firms producing online content, with the launch three weeks ago of Knol, a user-generated Web encyclopedia that has in some cases knocked entries from rival Wikipedia further down the list on the Google search engine. Knol has recruited experts -- anyone with "useful knowledge" according to Google -- to write entries about all manner of topics for the new service, which the search giant hosts for free, and unlike non-commercial Wikipedia, most Knol authors have their name associated with the material they write and can choose to earn a share of advertising revenue. Knol Authors Can Receive Revenue From Google Knol also differs from Wikipedia in not allowing anyone to freely edit information, instead limiting changes to people who have had their alterations or additions approved by the original author. Wikipedia encountered difficulties due to its original  open nature including the ability to make entries and edits anonymously, with several high profile cases involving either malicious or prankish postings of incorrect information prompting changes in how it handles updates. The prospect of Google paying for and making available Web content has rankled some in the online information creation business. "Google can say they are not in the content business, but if they are paying people and distributing and archiving their work, it is getting harder to make that case," Jason Calacanis, the chief executive of so-called human-powered search engine Mahalo, recently said in a New York Times report by Miguel Helft questioning Google's balancing act between search engine and media provider. Mahalo, meaning “thank you” in Hawaiian, launched in test form in June 2007, and like Knol pays people to write pages on a wide variety of subjects. Calacanis views Knol as a rival, and said that the new Google entrant is "competing for talent, for advertisers and for users." Google Sees All Rankings Achieved By Knol As Earned Google has maintained its steadfast objectivity throughout its expansion, insisting that it has never given preferential treatment to Web content hosted on its own servers and authored by experts that it has paid, and indeed there has been little  evidence of such bias, yet some in the industry of content creation are fearful of Google changing its role over time, even if the pace of change from distributor to creator is slow. "When you see Knol pages rank high, they are there because they have earned their position," Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker told Helft in his recent piece, "Is Google a Media Company?" Knol allows authors to link to other online material when citing sources for an entry, and Google plans to make the information on the site available to other search engines. "We do not want to build a walled garden of content; we want to disseminate it as widely as possible," Google vice president of engineering Udi Manber said in December 2007. Knol Sites Seen Replacing Wikipedia Pages Within Google Search Before Knol launched certain Google Web searches resulted in a prominent position near the top of the page for many Wikipedia entries, positions that have in some cases been replaced by new content from Knol. Some industry analysts have been  quick to point out that most of these pages rank equally well in searches conducted using the search engine sites of Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com. Google has pointed out that not all of the experts chosen to author Knol pages choose to turn on advertising for their pages, making some of the project's entries appear non-commercial like Wikipedia, further separated from its parent company by not displaying a Google logo on Knol's pages. Google, which chose to operate Knol leaving copyright control to individual authors, has not yet released detailed information on just how many of Knol's pages are ad-free. Google is "not interested in owning or creating content," according to Stricker, who paints a picture of the Internet titan interested only in "connecting people between whatever their search is and the answer they are looking for." Google Wikipedia Rival Knol Raises Competition Concerns Among Media Firms Recognizing the key role Google has as one of the Web's primary search tools, some media firms have embraced Knol and the large audience it could provide, such as medical  reference firm Caring.com, which has entries on diabetes medications available through the Google project. WebMD had also joined Knol as a content creator. Despite recent efforts by Google to share certain information about how it goes about ranking Web sites to match user searches, nearly all of the details about the core algorithm it uses have remained secret, a prospect not likely to change anytime soon according to many, which could cause media companies to intensify their scrutiny of Google's search results. Google appeared willing to face any such heightned focus as it pushed forward with Knol, standing by its founding goal of organizing the world's information. Related Links:
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