Google - The Surfer’s Best Friend and Worst Enemy
Monday March 28, 2005
Google is simply awesome. It is one of the seven wonders of the digital world. It feels like Google is unveiling new features and services all the time. Check out there latest services at http://www.google.ca/options/index.html and http://labs.google.com . If you aren’t familiar with Google, where have you been for the last 5 years?!
With Google, in mere seconds you can find useful information and just about any related Web site within google’s index. The services are provided in dozens of languages and now even offer translation. You can find some of the cheapest deals on earth for your products and you can read news from hundreds of newspapers all within one site. You can discuss any issues with others who are interested and you can get daily notices of new web content. To move into the wireless world, much of this can now also be done from your cell phone or wireless data assistant!
It is not an exaggeration to say that Google is the internet surfer’s best friend.
There is no doubt that the googlelization of the internet has had its share of benefits. Google has made many sites that previously would have been nearly impossible to find accessible. Google has been one of the largest aids in maintaining the usefulness of the internet and the accessibility to it. But it is Google’s own ad model and popularity that may come to be its downfall.
Internet content developers can push their sites to the top of Google’s search results by paying for top placements or through technical manipulation. It is through this, that Google can become the lazy surfer’s worst enemy (most surfers are lazy). For certain searches, it is possible for a large number of the top results to be paid or manipulated into their search result location. Because of this, the web surfer may only see the content that certain groups are pushing, failing to see other alternative sites. This can be especially influential to the web surfer if the search is based on:
ascertaining a good price for a product, or;
searching for political information, or;
trying to obtain details on a sickness/symptom
etc.
As a matter of fact the surfer may lose out on large parts of the internet because of googlelization. Because Google’s search results are partially based upon the popularity of a link, it is much easier for Web sites that appear first in search results to stay first in search results. For this reason, it becomes more difficult for the surfer to find new (perhaps more) relevant information on emerging and changing Web sites that do not appear near the top of the Google search results. It this ever becomes exceptionally problematic, then Google may end up not being the first choice of web users.
In a way, the Googlelization of the internet is much like the economic globalization of the real world. The realm appears to become smaller through quick communication and information sharing. Like economic globalization, those near the top benefit while those near the bottom lose out. Those who are not near the top in Google have much tougher time sharing their information, their message and their product, while those already at the top have the potential to increase the spread of their information, and to sell their product to more and more digital consumers.
So is there a solution to this? At this time I am not aware of a solution. Any type of search engine on the internet would have its problems, and without search engines the world wide web could become an inefficient tangled blob of unconnected web sites. The first step to any type of solution is simply to make the surfer conscientious of the potential of search results to be manipulated and warped against their wishes.
Finally, it should also be noted that Google has yet one more downside. Google is quickly becoming the Wal-mart of Cyberville. For every service it provides, it can leverage its already gargantuan size to make that service the preferred choice among surfers, thus putting smaller and more local outfits that provided that same service out of business. E.g. Google can replace a German online map provider without even being in Germany and Google doesn’t have to be just a map provider or even remotely specialized in that skill!
Google has been of great benefit for the world of communication and information sharing and its positive influence in communication and data are by no means over. However, we should all be cautioned that all the benefits of Google come with a few drawbacks such as a concentration of information sources and a centralization of services. These drawbacks could easily grow to become big issues in the coming years.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions or feedback? Please contact me!
