Google, one of the world's most prominent evangelists for all things digital, has turned to one of the most traditional of old media routes to try to persuade more British people to go online: it is printing a leaflet.
The Simple Guide to the Internet is part of the search engine group's commitment to Race Online 2012, an initiative started by the UK government's digital inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox.
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Google's leaflet, which it intends to start distributing this year through libraries, charities and other public bodies that work with the digitally excluded, will give novices all the information they need to carry out basic online tasks, such as communicating with friends. It will not be used to push Google's own services.
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n fact, it's not the first time that Google has resorted to old media in order to eulogise about new media. A year and a half ago, it announced plans to launch its own internet browser – called Chrome – through the medium of a comic. Unfortunately its faster-than-expected delivery to journalists meant that what was supposed to be a carefully stage-managed announcement became an online festival of speculation.
But it's not just about leaflets. Google will create a complementary website, and hopes that the leaflet and site combined will reach a million people by 2012.
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