Googling It

            Chapter eight of Carr’s book was by far my favorite of the book so far.  This was mainly because it was all about my favorite website, Google.  I have always known Google as a search engine and although I knew about several of Google’s conquests over the past few years I did not really comprehend how powerful the website has become not only as a site but as a company.  This chapter gave a brief history of how Google started and what it has come to be and the fact that a simple search engine, which we have all come to take for granted, has become a multi-billion dollar company is really astounding when you think about it.  There have been several search engines that have come and gone since the inception of Google and none have really ever come close to challenging its popularity.

            The way Google has expanded is even more impressive than its lasting popularity of the past decade.  I remember back when Google came out with its own video section and it became obvious that this was put in to try and rival the most popular video site YouTube.  The fact of the matter was that Google video was nowhere close to the popularity to YouTube and the feature just was not catching on.  I am sure that the people at Google were also aware of this fact which is why they decided “if you can’t beat them, join them.”  Google actually went out and decided to simply buy their competition.  At this point it became obvious that the most popular search engine now also has the most popular video site which is a dynamic duo for any company.  Since then Google has made many more innovations that people have come to love.  They have their own social networking site, their own email service, their own internet browser, and even their own smart phones.  I personally experienced my own experience of Google’s power the other day when my Android smart phone informed me that my app store was changing from the Android Market to the Google Play Store.  At first I thought nothing of the matter, but now thinking back to it I am realizing how powerful Google really is.

            Google has definitely had a strong impact on our society and how the world even functions today.  The fact that we tell people to “Google it” when people ask for information we are unaware of, shows just how much it has impacted us.  We have actually have turned the name of a search engine into a verb meaning to look something up online.  The main reason behind this is because we can use Google to look whatever we want up.  One memory I recalled when reading this chapter is when my Grandmother first used the internet on her computer.  My family told her about Google and a few days later she called us and exclaimed how you can look anything up on Google.  When she said this we all laughed because in our minds it actually seemed like a silly notion to even make that statement.  In our minds the power of Google had already taken over and we were overtaken by its reign.

Martin Gray