It has become increasingly clear since founder Larry Page took back the Google reigns that he regarded
himself as some sort of a modern-day Captain Ahab and Facebook as his company’s Moby Dick.
himself as some sort of a modern-day Captain Ahab and Facebook as his company’s Moby Dick.
Page’s harpoon was supposed to be Google+. The social network platform is clearly the best of numerous such offerings offered over the past few years. When he took the tiller, Page immediately redirected his ship so that the harpoon could be sunk into the eye of the Facebook whale.
But of course, the reference being what it is, this is not a good thing--we all see this coming as the text directs itself to the possible implosion that this Larry Page faces. This is the interesting bit in understanding popular references to Moby Dick: we all understand that it goes nowhere!
At first, this looked like the makings of a great turnaround story. The young, determined founder, vowing to do no evil, takes the helm of a great ship floundering in an
unprecedented storm. Vowing to avenge cruel and painful losses, he sets a new course.
unprecedented storm. Vowing to avenge cruel and painful losses, he sets a new course.
Someone should have warned Page to be careful what he wished to harpoon. It could turn around and give him a very nasty bite, even a fatal one.
And as Larry Page tried to guide the company:
It was said Page was steering into troubling waters in the same way that Ahab drove his Pequod to where no ship should go.
Overall, this story focuses on Google+ trying to beat Facebook. Facebook is the white whale that he cannot beat:
It seems to me that Google’s biggest mistake is in treating its very real rivalry with Facebook as a life-or-death struggle.
And, of course, the article in proper bookend format, references the overreaching Moby Dick metaphor again:
Focus is a good thing, but obsession may cause your harpoon to backfire.
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