Google and Classifieds
Seemingly every post about Google’s Automat patent mentions the fact that the Newspaper industry are fucked. Well maybe not, I searched on Digg, and only seven people think it of note (versus the hundreds it requires for top billing on their homepage).
Of course no one knows, but Automat seems to be nothing targeted at classifieds. More likely, it will threaten yellow pages providers.
It is for the creation of one page of content and an automatic summary ad to be shown in their adsense network. Dealers usually have scores of cars and Realtors multiple houses. Meaning that more than one page is needed. And the management interface would be horrible for these two types of users.
More likely they are targeting plumbers and hair dressers than car dealers and real estate agents. It just seems to imply a level of sophistication down. But that is my reading of the Google tea leaves.
So in summary, Yellow Pages: fucked; newspapers: less fucked.
