The Google Effect
9 June 2008
As a result of what’s known as the Google effect, not only do companies now face a greater risk of being defamed on the internet, but their PR advisers are also at greater risk of being personally sued.
Prominent Google search results are, of course, as important to the media as they are to any other commercial entity. Yet, whilst Google is an incredibly sophisticated search engine, there is a risk that some of the ways in which it ranks its search results could favour speedy publications and those with contentious content over the cautious and the considered.
There are two main examples of this. Firstly: news clustering. Google arranges news stories from approximately 4,500 news sources around the world so that they appear in clusters. The more prominent a story is in the news cluster, the more likely the reader is to click through – thus generating revenue for the ‘paper.
The calculations that decide prominence are entirely computed by algorithms, which include factors such as how often and where the story appears online. In the case of a breaking news story, one of the factors that Google takes into account is who first broke the story and who followed it. Speed, rather than accuracy, is naturally being rewarded in those circumstances, making it far more likely that untrue and defamatory allegations will be published.
The second concept that arguably promotes riskier publications is known as link baiting. Suppose a manufacturer of widgets called Acme Inc wants to attract more traffic to its website by improving its Google ranking. Google will boost Acme Inc up the rankings when people search for “widgets” if it appears that Acme Inc is an authority on widgets. In order to be perceived by Google as an authority there are several things that Acme Inc can do: one of which is writing press releases which include contentious or controversial material, to be distributed on a press hub like PR NewsWire. The inclusion of controversial material makes it more likely for third parties to link into releases with contentious or groundbreaking content and the greater the number of third parties that link into Acme Inc’s press release the more authoritative the Google algorithm considers the piece to be and so the higher the release will rank on a Google search. Controversial pieces are obviously more likely to be defamatory.
Those writing the contentious press releases need to be aware of the risks of personally being sued for defamation. It wouldn’t be a defence to say that they only wrote the release on behalf of their clients or agency. On the contrary, each individual is responsible for the words they write.
For press enquiries please contact:
Christopher Mills
christopher.mills@schillings.co.uk
+ 44 (0)20 7034 9000
First published on Gorkana as part of Schillings' regular contribution to their site.
Gorkanais about creating a media market place for both financial/corporate PR professionals and the media to engage and interact. www.gorkanapr.com