Kate The Professional recently posted on the idea that “Google before you Tweet” is the new “Think before you speak”. I agree in the narrow sense that you should be aware of the facts before you go wading in with your half-baked opinions (some of my opinions can prove to be seriously under-done – hurried back-tracking is second nature to me). In other circumstances Googling can be seriously detrimental because it scares you into never developing your ideas, as it seems that someone else has always got there first.
Consider this scenario:
An idea occurs to you whilst in conversation with a colleague. You don’t bring it up there and then, but you make a mental note of it. That evening, you Google a few key-words based on what you can remember of your idea, and it appears that other people have got there first. What a pointless idea, you think, I’ll never come up with anything original.
Now consider this one:
An idea occurs to you whilst in conversation with a colleague. You bring it up there and then, and you and your colleague bat ideas back and forth for a little while. You make some notes. That evening, you Google some specific key-words and phrases based on your notes. It turns out that whilst the general area of your original idea is covered already, the brainstorming with your colleague means that you have identified two specific niche areas that haven’t been cornered yet. Score!
Most ideas aren’t very good, they are either infeasible or already being done to death by other people. But if you never practice developing ideas by pursuing lots of them, chances are you won’t come up with that first great one. Talk about your idea before you Google it.
Most ideas are born and die in pubs. You are sitting with your friends, drinking and putting the world to rights, and someone says “Wouldn’t it be great if…” in response to a problem that you are all talking about. The idea is born. ”Yeah!” you all say, “Great idea!”. No-one does anything about it. The idea dies. Next time an idea is born, run with it. Google can wait.
Good point! Google is background research, not the answer. Develop the idea first, then use Google to sand out the rough edges.
I think this “Google Idea Death” is at its worst when a conversational partner whips out his phone to squash another person’s idea during a debate.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Julian Rothkamp, Kate Davids. Kate Davids said: Another blogger is continuing the Google Before You Speak discussion. Ideas on the Net! http://bit.ly/aVjQvs [...]
And it’s important to remember that even if your exact idea exists, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room in the market for one more, especially if done better/faster etc. Who would have thought Papa John’s would take off with Pizza Hut, Dominoes, and Little Caesar’s? How to explain the success of Five Guys or Smashburger with the overwhelming dominance of McDonald’s, Wendys, and Burger King?
The trick is to follow through on the ideas you think must be done, even if someone is already out there doing them. Passion (and really good marketing) can outperform the competition.
Jen
I’ve thought that too. Am having a really bad day, seeing the current idea I’m working on apparently everywhere and not new at all (I waited until I had fleshed out the idea a bit though before I Googled though!!). Sigh. So, why is mine different or better…?