Google Gods.

For a while there, it seemed like there was genuinely a war between which search engine was going to win out the battle: I remember as a kid using Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, and Altavista probably just as much as I did Google. I mean, Ask Jeeves had a cool picture of a butler on their front page - and sometimes that butler had different clothes on depending on the weather outside, or if it was a holiday. Now, though, probably about ten or so years later, it seems like Google has become the predominant search engine - doesn't Ask Jeeves even still exist? If it does, I'm pretty sure they got rid of the butler, which is disappointing to say the least.

The problem with Google becoming the one and only search engine we all use is that it lends a certain amount of brand loyalty that customers aren't even aware of. If we draw a comparison, Google has essentially becoming the Kleenex of search engines. No one says tissue, really (at least where I'm from) - we all just say Kleenex. Even if we're not using Kleenex, we still say Kleenex - I'm pretty sure my mom buys Puffs. The thing about this, though, is that Kleenex kind of owns the tissue market - despite the fact that people might not be actually using their product. Google, on the other hand, has both: they've becoming part of the culture, and are used in a way that are different from tissues: no one says "I'll Google it" and then goes to Ask.com. We're all using Google - it's built into our web browsers (at least any web browser I use). Not only that, but it's become more than just a search engine - it's become a one-stop shop. Maps, news, pictures, videos, even social media are now all a part of Google (even though, admittedly, Google+ seems like kind of dud). I mean, even my blog is a part of Google - they own Blogger now too. It's the kind of large company that we don't necessarily think about though - a faceless company that seamlessly controls the internet without having to let you know they're controlling it. They're cool, but they don't have to tell you they're cool. They own Youtube, but not in a way that puts a gigantic Google banner on the top of youtube.com - in a way that subtlety puts a "Youtube" tab on their homepage, and keeps your Google account in the top right corner of Youtube.

My point is this: without competition, Google really can do whatever they want, and that might be a problem. Unlike Mac products, if you don't like Google, your choices are kind of limited. With a Mac, if you find yourself against it, there are other companies to go to. But with Google, sure, you can go to Bing, and maybe Vimeo, and The New York Times website and Hotmail and Mapquest, but that's going to take a lot of time as opposed to having it all within a click of your mouse on Google. And without that competition, it leaves Google in a particularly powerful position - they not only control each segment of the internet, but they're starting to control your entire internet experience. I only have one Google site bookmarked on my Mac (Gmail) but that's because through that I can access anything else I might need, and right next to it is a Google search bar that I use frequently.

Why is this a problem? Well, I guess it's not a huge problem, but it kind of puts Google in a position to play God. If they're controlling everything, they make the choices, and you have little say in them. If they decide, for instance, that a certain site isn't worth their users' time, they can simply not have it show up when searching it. It's that type of control that be kind of scary, especially when you consider the amount of information they hold on us - a scary amount. Moreover, I've said in the past that I trust Apple - I've looked at their products and what they have to say about them and decided they're for me. But I never really did that with Google. It was just there, and I used it. And I still use it. Without that kind of agency, you really don't know what you're using.