Google It!

When I have a question about anything in particular, if a person can't answer it, the common thought that comes to mind is Google it!  In the age of instant gratification, almost any question you can imagine can be answered by the super search engine amusingly titled "Google".  While other search groups such as bing and yahoo have a strong support group, no search engine business  can seriously compete with the ever growing Google empire.  Throughout this blog I aim to inform you about interesting and relevant facts in regards to the Google life and it's incredible impact on the media and our view of it today.

How did Google come to be?

Simply enough two grad students had an idea in 1995 that they aimed to make a reality.  This whole process started, with a formula.  This formula, would rank relevancy and compile websites into a easier to sift through list. By 1999 the pair had raised a whopping almost 30 million dollars, just with their idea alone.  This money came from a mixture of investments from public sectors, private sectors, and their alma mater Stanford University. Later that year, the Google idea became a reality.
Think of all the Google centric products we use without even really thinking about it.  On a daily basis one might utilize any one, or all of these Google services:

• Android (mobile operating system)
• Blogger (blogging tools)
• Gmail (e-mail)
• Google Analytics (Web traffic measurement)
• Google Chrome (Web browser)
• Google Desktop Search
• Google Language Tools (translation tools)
• Google Talk (instant messaging)
• Google Toolbar (browser plug-in application
• Google Earth
• Google Maps

These are not even a full list of the services google offers!  There are several other Google services and services offered under the Google corporation umbrella.

One reasons which Google is incredibly powerful in the media world today, is the fact that the Google name alone is not all that the Google corporation owns.  The Google company, as of 2011, owned Zagat, Invite Media and Adscape, Picnic  along with over a dozen other companies.  One of the websites Google owns, has incredible power over people today, YouTube.  The popular video sharing site has tens of millions of views per day.  Not only are these views from inside the US, but from virtually every country across the globe.  The type of power that YouTube has is often forgotten.  This one site has the ability to reach large and vastly different demographic makes it an intensely powerful tool.

Blogger much like youtube allows a mainly uncensored voice to those who otherwise might not be able to reach as large an audience.  In a largely uncensored and capatilist friendly website, Google has encouraged the independent voice to be heard, or at least published.  While it might cost you a pretty penny to feature your blog, you can use a google tool to advertise other companies on your website and potentially make a few bucks yourself.  Giant corporation aren't all bad after all.  But consider this, for every ad space that you give out at your blog, arguably encouraging excessive consumerism you are in essence selling out to the popular trends of today.

Google's interest in advertising is perhaps it's strongest form of influence.  Depending on your search history and or personal browsing history, Google's product adSense provides personalized or targeted ads particularly for you.  What people are shown on a daily basis could arguably begin to affect ones ideas.  Whether you look at it positively or negatively, Google's advertising dominates the internet sphere.

Youtube allows for videos to be streamed and viewed that news stations wouldn't necessarily allow.  For extremist governments that censor excessively not just inappropriate media, but media that portrays the government in a negative light, youtube provides a sort of voice and freedom.  Youtube still decides to take down videos it deems inappropriate, but it is vastly a source of allowing people a voice, who otherwise might not have one.

According to respected company profiling website Hoovers.com, Google Inc came in at an impressive #55 in CNN's fortune 500 list as of May 2013.  How did a search engine start to make all that money? Ad space is the name of the game as far as making money in the search engine market goes.  In a way, Google initially was much like a middle man, connecting advertisers to hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions, of costumers.

How about your phone?  Do you use an Apple phone?  Because if not, you are probably using a phone that operates on an Android operating system.  If you have a tablet (Non-Ipad), it's probably runs a version of Android. We personally, entrust google with some of our most private and sensitive information, without even really thinking about it.  Whether we are looking up our financials, checking our emails, or adding to our online backed up contact list, Google holds many of our lives in it's  hands.

Recently, while most companies are worried about cutting costs in a challenging world economy, Google Inc. in 2010 alone spent upwards of 1.8 Billion dollars in acquisitions of other companies alone.  It is reported that they acquired a serious 50 company names for that price.  Google Inc. hasn't always stayed on the internet though, over time Google has produced their own phone line as well as certain other electronics.  Have you ever heard of Motorola? Well, in 2012 Google purchased the Motorola mobility holdings for a staggering 12.5 billion dollars, a record purchase for them.  Even with all of this excessive spending, considering the size of the company the finances of the company has managed to stay positive and in the green for the entirety of the last few years.

Essentially if you are searching for something, you'll probably Google it.  While this might not seem like anything but helpful, the Google corporation is deciding what it will and will not show you first. Many people will not look at the tenth or twentieth page on their google search, allowing some of the lesser known websites to remain lost in the ethereal mist that is the internet.  If someone isn't paying to get their site featured, it's up to the searcher to sift through the prepackaged chosen websites, to find the one their looking for.

News is also a huge source of influence that companies have.  Depending on what articles and news we are shown, we might come to different conclusions about what is really going on in the world. Google news is a popular section of Google which holds a large amount of influence over what people see.

When it comes down to finances Google is far from going down hill.  In the past 60 months their revenue has increased a surprising 24%.  If you look at only the past 12 months, their revenue growth has increased by over 30%.  An increase of that percentage is impressive no matter how vast the company.  According to most, Google is the top internet advertiser seller in the world, talk about brand recognition.

Ultimately, while we realize it or not, Google Inc is a huge part of the average American's internet excursions.  If you haven't been on Youtube or Google, you probably don't own a computer.  As Google continues to grow, I believe that they will become a global powerhouse to be reckoned with far outside of the search engine realm.

References

McLellan, M. (2013). Google inc.. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.reinhardt.edu:2190/H/company360/financialMarketData.html?companyId=59101000000000

Company overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/about/company/

"Who Owns The Media?" Retrieved from http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart