FBlog

This may be the understatement of our age but it bears saying, again and again: Google is an exceptional company.

There are plenty of reasons to believe—from a workplace time-rationing scheme that engages employees in their passions, to a corporate philosophy focused on usability and access. On Friday, Google offered its business clients in the UK (and later, the world entire) another polite reminder that theirs is work of unprecedented depth.

Think Quarterly is Google’s newest project—a digital journal that appropriately dedicates its inaugural issue to data. It self-describes as “a breathing space in a busy world” and “a place to take time out and consider what’s happening and why it matters.”

Well designed and beautifully written, it’s a nice reminder that extended prose nourishes us like no other form can. As a writer, I dig it. But I bring this publication up for two reasons, both significantly more important than its apparent defense of the written word.

First, the journal’s content is relevant and accessible—even to those who do not deal in data. There’s a wonderfully insightful (and strangely therapeutic) interview with Vodafone UK’s Guy Laurence; a watch-list of toothsome sites that use data well; and several pieces penned by Google’s own experts in communications, advertising and business.

But just as importantly, I mention Think Quarterly because it represents a well-managed shift in the Google story. Ever focused on speed, Google’s brand is one that celebrates real-time content. Yet here is a book that will sit inert for several months to come. It begs the question: why should we believe Google when it says we need this outlet for information, one among billions? Is it consistent with their message?

There are many reasons why we trust this departure—and we do, if Think Quarterly’s warm reception is any indication. Paramount in my mind is the company’s essential human balance: they’re both corporate and quirky, profitable and philanthropic, measured and enthusiastic. Though we hadn’t formed the thought yet, I suspect many of us felt like we needed the time and space Think Quarterly affords. But it took Google—the thoughtful soothsayer—to tell us and show us why. And that, as it turns out, is the beauty behind all their work.