Google buddies up to newsrooms

After announcing a proposed platform that will allow publishers of any size to charge for content, Google has launched an experimental site called Fast Flip to gives big publishers a share of the advertising revenue from the search.

Neither of the products will save the publishing industry nor give independent bloggers and startups the kind of revenue they need to stay afloat. This does indicate, however, that Google sees a future in which people pay something for online content. In the former case, we have a farmer's market model in which smaller publishers can get something for home grown work. The latter points to a more traditional mall product, where name brands are on display.

Ken Doctor at Content Bridges has more on Fast Flip. He notes that Google, now #9 on the list of top news search engines, needed a better mousetrap. Indeed, Google may have found the ultimate cheese to lure newspapers and magazines away from all the other aggregators: revenue.