How Google Transformed the World

Google made accessing a wealth of Internet-based information simpler for everyone.

It is very likely you found this website through a search of Google. Founded in 1998 by two Stanford University students, Google has grown into a massive corporation with net profits over $3 billion. The key to Google’s success continues to lies in its inherent simplicity, and its effectiveness at finding things online that people are searching for. As a result of its success in these areas, Google has transformed many aspects of life that we’ve long taken for granted.

De-Throning Traditional Media

Prior to Google, newspaper and television companies owned regional information monopolies. In addition to news, employers looking for employees or businesses looking for new customers had no other options besides these media empires. With the growth and ubiquity of Google, however, people are allowed to operate outside of the news empire, a fact reflected in the consistent decline of newspaper revenue in the U.S. since the late 1990s. For better or for worse, newspaper companies are now re-thinking how they present news and engage readers. Prior to Google, the concept of a journalism outfit catering itself to an audience was virtually unheard of.

Revolutionized Advertising

Any media company derives a large portion of its profit from advertising. For years, however, advertising was limited to broad audiences about which advertises knew comparatively little. Through Nielson surveys, television stations could provide advertisers with vague descriptions of their audiences -- women between the ages of 20 and 40, for example -- but broad audiences were the most preferred. Today, advertising operates on a model that emphasizes very specific target audience, due in large part to Google. Google sells ad space based on a given search. “People searching ‘bed and breakfasts ireland’” is a very specific audience, particularly if you operate a bed a breakfast in Ireland. Other massive online services such as Facebook today replicate that model of micro-advertising in garnering their revenue. Clearly, advertising has become a large part of Google’s focus.

Incentivized Information

Over two decades ago, a book on how to harvest morell mushrooms in the Midwest might not be worth the printing costs. The topic is too narrow and the book must be put on the shelves of libraries and book stores if it is ever to find a place with a person trying to harvest mushrooms. Put simply, prior to Google it was difficult to connect the producers of content with the consumers of content. With online ad revenue possibilities and Google’s highly accurate aggregation of all types of online information, it now makes sense for highly-specialized books to be written as they can now easily be found and purchased online by those consumers interested in that imformation.

Also, writers can now write articles to try and become the top result of a Google search, such as being the top result for a search on "find morells midwest." In fact, becoming the top result in Google is now a big business. Businesses seeking to maintain their brand are hiring search engine optimization specialists, and whole companies are springing up seeking to be the top result for as many popular search queries as possible. Google has made it downright profitable to produce and share content for free online -- with accompanying advertisements.

Other Google Projects That Transform the Way We Live

Outside of searches, Google has begun to use its massive revenue stream to impact all aspects of human interaction. Their free maps have made turn-by-turn GPS directions a financially attainable goal for virtually everyone with a smart phone. Google's Project Glass augmented reality glasses, in testing as of May 2013, change where and how we processing information by linking our very sight to the world of information aggregated by Google. Prior to Google’s Gmail service, severe limitation were place on how much email we could send and how we could send it. More recently, Google has challenged the arbitrarily-imposed bandwidth limits of Internet service providers by piloting fiber-speed home Internet service in Kansas City, Omaha, Nebraska and other locations. The company also has started a massive project to digitize copyright-free literature and make it freely available. As you can see, the list goes on and on -- and it all points to a world where information is regarded as just as much of a need and a right as clean water. And that is a world, transformed, where Google excels.

References

• Columbia Journalism Review: What’s a Fair Share in the Age of Google?
• Daily Mail Online: 'Google Is Now Just an Ad Company': Departing Exec's Goldman Sachs-style Rant About How Search Giant is Now Obsessed With Harvesting People's Private Information
• PCMag.com: Analysis: How Google Has Changed Our Lives
• ABC News: What Looking Through Google Glass Really Looks Like
• Wired: Google Fiber Sparks Yet Another Gigabit Internet Service
• BBC News: Google and Microsoft See a Jump in Profits
• Wired: U.N. Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right