Will news survive in the digital era? Google says yes, and has launched ‘Living Stories’ to prove that it isn’t the news industry’s enemy, but its friend.

The ‘to pay or not to pay’ for news content debate may rage on but what’s most exciting about this is that it makes online news a more appealing – and more commercially valuable commodity – that publishers could charge for.

Google says that what has often been overlooked in the ongoing debate about the future of news is the nature of the news story itself and the experience of how it is read online.

On its blog, Google said, “We believe it’s just as important to experiment with how news organizations can take advantage of the web to tell stories in new ways — ways that simply aren’t possible offline.”

Living Stories, in partnership with The News York Times and The Washington Post, is being tested through Google Labs and features new ways to interact with news online. (For more info read our news story here).

Living Stories takes a different approach to the way that news is traditionally presented and read,  playing to certain unique advantages of online publishing. It unifies coverage on a single, dynamic page with a consistent URL and organizes information by developments in the story.

The software also knows where a user has clicked before by turning those stories a different shade of blue. “Living Stories automatically tracks user interactions with the story, helping users get the latest updates to the stories they’re following and sift through the coverage in novel ways,” says its blog.

Andreas Pouros, chief operating officer at search marketing agency Greenlight, believes that Google has essentially found a way to try and bring publishers on-side by offering them free SEO, and what in his view, would appear to be a win-win situation for all involved.

“This marks a significant collaboration between Google and some major heavyweights in the publishing industry,” he says. 

But of course only time will tell of which approach will gain the most traction.

Money, honey?

Google thinks Living Stories can help newspapers adapt to a shift that is causing millions of people to get their news from online sources instead of print. But that’s a huge problem for newspapers because they make most of their money from ads appearing in print.

Even though the Living Stories page design follows the usual Google template – simple layout, plenty of white space for potential online advertising – the search engine giant has no plans to show ads during the experiment.

Is there anything besides ad placement in Living Stories that could open up a new revenue stream for money-starved media outlets? Not as far as we can see. Will Living Stories be a viable solution to save the media industry? I am thinking ‘no’.