Savvy Businessmen or Evil Masterminds?

Those behind Google are smart.

They made extremely intelligent business decisions to reach their level of popularity.

It is for that reason that I am, undoubtedly, addicted to Google. But, had Google bought an obsolete video streaming site rather than YouTube and Xanga instead of Blogger, my infatuation would lie elsewhere. That is because, whether Google owns these sites or not, I would still visit them as often as I do now.

I don't visit Google sites because they are affiliated with Google. There are no Google logos emblazoned across Blogger or YouTube that draw me there. In fact, if there were, I would think them tacky and unnecessary and most likely search for new websites to use.

Up until this class, I had no idea that some sites were owned by Google I am sure that I am not the only one who isn't up-to-date on the latest internet ownership news. I'm sure that the first time some people find out a site is affiliated with Google is when and if they create an account on that site. Only when they are redirected to create a Gmail account does it become glaringly obvious who owns sites like YouTube and Blogger.

I don't feel like I am under Google's thumb each time I surf the web. I don't feel as if I am being coerced by Google to visit their sites, and their sites only. I may prefer to use their services to those of, say, Yahoo! or Bing, but that is my own personal decision. I could just as easily use any other search engine, but I chose not to. This is not dependancy, but rather popularity among users. Google is integrated and user friendly and usually provides me with the best results, therefore I use it more.

I think Google's popularity is often confused with power. Yes, Google is a powerful force online. Then again, so are many other entities. Google doesn't, to the best of my knowledge, abuse it's user base. There is an ongoing debate about how much personal information it does collect, but I have yet to have my identity stolen and I use a great amount of Google services. Not to mention the fact that Google is not the only site that uses things like cookies. I feel as if I would be more vulnerable to viruses and identity theft on sites that are not affiliated with Google than on sites that are.

In short,I don't think that the masterminds behind the Google corporation are trying to take over the world. I think that they are business savvy and made intelligent purchasing decisions. They seem to reinvest in their own company as well. More and more often new things are released by Google that increase usability, such as integration of their many services.

Google is not here to destroy us, but to help us.