When I have previously thought of Google, I thought of nothing more than a search engine. It’s what everyone used, and still uses today, to find what it is they are looking for. After reading about Google, the company, and how it works, I have a new found appreciation for Google and practically every other popular internet site around today.
After reading Article 5 titled “How Google Dominates Us” I was introduced to how Google was formed, how the searches behave the way they do, and even what the company’s motto is today. Reading all of which was quite fascinating. What stuck out to me the most was this one quote that was chosen to be put in the article from a one Siva Vaidhyanathan. Vaidhyanathan stated “We are not Google’s customers: we are its product. We—our fancies, fetishes, predilections, and preferences—are what Google sells to advertisers.” And here we all thought that Google was doing us all a public service by directing us to sites that contain the information we, the public, are seeking.
So all this time have we been played by Google, mere pones they use to generate money for them and their clients? Well, I guess this answer is yes and no. Google does have advertisements on its site, but they are clearly marked so we know which ones are being paid to show up in a particular search of ours. With the search system they have developed the information we are searching for is still what shows up on the search page. Also what’s almost in a way nice about the ads is that they still have some connection to the actual search words we typed in. As Google’s company motto is “Don’t be evil” they try to maintain that idea and keep the public’s interest as well as theirs in a balance.