Google: The King of the World

If someone were to ask you what search engine you use the most, you'd probably say Google, right? I mean, it's rare to find anyone that doesn't know about the web based search engine. Even my grandmother uses it. Heck, even my six year-old cousin uses it. (Debatable whether that's necessarily good but..I'll get to that.) From a garage start up in Silicon Valley to a multi-billion dollar company that has more than 70 offices in over 40 global locations, in 15 years, Google has come a long way. It has changed life for us all in ways we don't seem to recognize every day.

Above, I have posted Part 1 of a video we watched in class that is entitled "The History of Internet Search and Google" that tells a little about the internet before Google. Clearly, that was just a little before my time, but the video tells that there were no catalogs for links as there exist now. You pretty much had to know the website before you got online, otherwise it was very hard for you to do anything. Yahoo and Excite were the first to start this grouping of links and important information for easier web surfing. But soon after came Google and search engines changed.

The Google logo has made only minor color changes through the years.

Google indexes much of the world's online information, putting any desired public knowledge just a few keystrokes away. You search for something and Google takes those keywords and ranks the links by quality of information and popularity. Typically, you can find anything within the first page and if not it incites panic.

But really, you can go anywhere just from Google. You can not even have a website in mind but search for something to do on Google. Google is the root of the internet. The search engine is by many accounts the single most-visited page on the Internet now. It has not only changed web based search engines...but the way we research anything. Research papers were completely dependent on library resources years ago. Now, you can Google websites to find the information you need. You can Google books you need and quote it from a preview Google will give you. You can find old newspapers on Google. And on, and on, and on it seems. Google has knocked libraries out of the competition. I can't even remember the last time I looked within a library for my resources without being forced to by a teacher.

Far more than using Google to help on research papers, you can even Google for answers to specific problems on an assignment. Then this search is saved for someone else who might search for it. Google has taken a lot of effort out of learning I believe. More often than not, when there is a book assignment I hear people say "I'll just Google it later." Google has become a synonym to "search." So, instead of just looking within the book or using their own logic to figure it out, people (and yes, I'm definitely guilty of it as well when I just give up on finding something in a book). Google will even suggest and correct you if you do not type something right.

 It's almost like we are regressing. Why memorize or learn when Google has the answers stored forever? Plagiary is very much more likely to happen these days because people will just copy and paste anything and everything they find on Google. And while I posted a funny picture, it's almost scary to think a lot of people these days depend upon Google for their schoolwork more than they should. 

Also, Google provides a less....er....shameful (I guess this is the right word to use) way of finding answers to questions that one might not want to ask a superior. Literally...have you began typing something and seen the queries that pop up below? It's frightening, man - look ->

People from the UK really need to know this?

I dunno, that is a good question. Why DO dogs eat poop?

Joking or not....I do not salute you Google users for those. Face palms for life. But even more so than that, people will search medical queries. And take advice from complete strangers who they have no way of knowing if they are being genuine - instead of just asking their doctor. 

Google has ensured people will continue to use the website by updating frequently. Google is now WAY more than just a search engine. There is the Google Drive, Google Maps, Gmail, Google+, and much more beyond those. Now beyond searching the web, you can do many other things that increase productivity. On the way are products like self-driving cars, Google Glass ( Google in your glasses...really though..no joke), and Project Loon (an idea to get people online cheaper and faster than traditional cable-based connections laid in the ground). Google Person Finder was created in 2010 after the Haiti earthquake. So, Google is broadening its horizons and will now be moving from just internet based products to every day products used in life.

Expanding on something I didn't quite cover, Gmail and Google+ have made Google a social network like Facebook. Along with these two are Google Chat and Google Hangouts (tutorials to use both below respectively). You can email or chat in real time with one person or many! Google has now also made communicating easy a feature of their website.

Google has also integrated its features into Android phones. I mean, you can still get your Gmail on an Iphone but almost all (if not all...I'm stilll  using an Iphone 4 beats me) of Google's features are on the Android phones. 

Google has left the desktop and is now on mobile devices.  So, this makes things easier for those who do not even own a desktop or laptop of their own. You just need a Wifi connection and you can do anything a computer owner can with your Android. Actually, you don't even need Wifi if you have a data plan. The service will just run if you have service within an area!

So time to sum this up, I suppose. Before Google was invented, many things we use today weren't available. The search engine is one of the most accurate, and even when it was first starting out it had 10,000 searches a day. Now, it is estimated to have 1.2 billion searches per day! It has expanded its products. It is not only a search engine but the internet's Yellow Pages and a company. This company is every where...powering our access to information and how we connect to others. Google is the way to level the playing field. You don’t need a degree from somewhere to do a specific task. Anyone, anywhere can now teach themselves a language, how to play a musical instrument and I guess they can also figure out how a make a bomb. It’s a different world now. But it goes to say, it's downfall is that it's not ALWAYS accessible.

Of course, Google is trying to make its products very more accessible each and every day, but there are still people who can't get to it.  People that can sometimes, but with no access don't know what to do.  Will we become so dependent upon it that we will not know what to do without it? I believe so. And since, with its popularity, libraries and other research facilities have lost their appeal, eventually will teachers even show kids how to research traditionally? I feel like Google helps us learn but with too much access it makes us lazy and frankly, home bodies or anti-social hermits. It's great that it's updating and adapting to technologic changes in the world...but it was just supposed to be a search engine on the internet. Eventually, I feel like Google will (all in order to make money so I can't really say I blame them) take over the world. You'll be able to do everything on there and we won't escape it :O 

(I'm a usually not much for conspiracy theories I swear)

Categories: gmail, google, worldview