
Marissa Mayer
Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of Search Product and User Experience: “Google News and Google search provide a valuable free service to online newspapers specifically by sending interested readers to their sites at a rate of more than 1 billion clicks per month. Newspapers use that Web traffic to increase their readership and generate additional revenue,” she said, according to her prepared testimony.
Marissa Mayer on Wednesday sought to convince the U.S. Senate that Google adds to journalism, too. Mayer, who is vice president of search products and user experience and manages Google’s search and Google News sites, wants people to see things differently,. She also mentioned how journalists benefit from Google services. “The Los Angeles Times Web site last year followed the path of Southern California wildfires using Google Maps,” she said.
“The structure of the Web has caused the atomic unit of consumption for news to migrate from the full newspaper to the individual article,” she said. “Publishers should not discount the simple and effective navigational elements the Web can offer. When a reader finishes an article online, it is the publication’s responsibility to answer the reader who asks, “What should I do next?” Click on a related article or advertisement? Post a comment? Read earlier stories on the topic?”