Google Base

Google, after much speculation, yesterday announced the launch of Google Base.  The service can best be described as a (currently free) hosted database allowing anyone to upload and categorise content on literally any subject.  Google then makes this information searchable online.

There's been much written in the blogosphere about Google's strategy and what it means for online classified advertising sites such as Craigslist and eBay, and other community oriented sites such as Flickr, delicious and Typepad.

In his post, Fred Wilson comments that he believes Google's strategy is to control the posting, subscribing, tagging and search ecosystem.  His bet is that loosely coupled and functionally rich online services, such as those listed above, will win the day.

Michael Parekh considers Base from a different perspective in his excellent post.  He contrasts the evolution of Google with that of Yahoo which began life as a human-powered directory.  Michael and John Battelle (author of The Search) both observe that Google's first objective is to augment its search results.  Though unlike Yahoo, which originally adopted a centralised human-powered directory, Google is aiming to leverage potentially millions of us to contribute content to its universe.  And once it has critical mass it can look to monetise the content in some way.

There are concerns about the potential for Base being overwhelmed by spam which Google will have to overcome.  A number of people (see example) have also commented that unlike the majority of other online content sharing services, there is a short delay (around 10 minutes) from the posting of content before it can be viewed.  And of course, many of people have posted about the rather clunky and functionally poor interface - I agree, but it can only improve.

Regardless, this is a fascinating move by Google and one I'm sure many will be watching over the coming days, weeks and months.  It may yet be seen as a significant event in the development of the semantic web.