Possibly the most reassuring thing I heard at Google’s Factory Tour last week was the company ranks advertising, along with search, as its two top priorities. At the Googleplex event, where the search company hosted a couple hundred journalists, bloggers and analysts, Google’s director of consumer Web products, Marissa Mayer, said 70 percent of Google’s resources (including 1,600 pounds of coffee beans and 500 pounds of pasta a month) are deployed on these two areas alone.
I say I’m reassured because sometimes it’s hard to tell what Google’s thinking, given the company’s secretive nature and a flurry of announcements around initiatives like Google Ride Finder. Seriously, though, Google has always had a bit of an identity crisis around whether it’s a media company or not. Mayer’s talk convinced me that indeed, Google now understands it’s a media company.