The Hidden Web of Google Documents (And 10 Creative Ways to Use It)
31 May 2026 #miscBig cities have “content” in odd places:
- A gummy bear in a wall
- A love letter in a metro wagon
- A motivational message in a bridge
Thanks to James’ new ways of storytelling, I learned the Internet, like a big city, has odd places for art too: Google Docs.
They’re a corner of the internet away from social media, search engines, and AI. They form a gray web: The Doc Web. A term coined by Elan Ullendorff, originally in a Google Doc.
Join the Doc Web
And to practice my 10-idea list habit, here are 10 ways to adopt the Doc Web as a writer, solopreneur, or creative:
#1. A book: Publish it by sharing a read-only public url. If anyone wants to download it, they can create a copy.
#2. A landing page: Use headers, bold, italics, underline and include a call to action on the last page.
#3. A micro-blogging platform: Tweet by adding a timestamped paragraph at the top. Share it with “commenters” permission and you’ll have replies.
#4. A poll application: Want to collect questions for an AMA or Q&A session? Share a document and ask people to leave one question per paragraph. They can upvote a question by increasing its font size.
#5. A survey or questionnaire: Share a document with your multiple-answer questions. People answer with a “+”.
#6. A membership area: Use your members’ email to give restricted access to a document with your exclusive content.
#7. A guestbook (a la Facebook wall): In your blog, link to a public Document for anyone to sign it.
#8. A magazine or episodic publication: Use a single document as the latest edition.
To release a new version:
- Make a copy of the last edition
- Overwrite the original content, and
- Link to the previous edition
#9. A bookmarking service (a la Delicious): Whenever you find an interesting link, add it to a public document. Keep it organized with an index on the first page. Share it with friends.
#10. A forum: Start each question on a new page. Include the creator’s display name and timestamp. Answer by adding your name and a timestamp before your reply. Use comments to start threads.
To run your next membership or community, the Doc Web is all you need. And to start a blog, forget about hosting and domains. You already know what to use instead. A Doc. Why not!