Google and me - The influence Google has on our lives
When I wake up, I check my Gmail account for emails. Then I scan website feeds on Google Reader to see what is happening on the online world. After that I scan latest news from Google News.
If I have any doubts about anything I straight away go to Google Search. Infact I have set Google Search as my homepage. Whenever I need an image related to a topic, I do a Google image search.
My friends contact me over Google Talk. Once Yahoo messenger was the IM I used, but not anymore.
My various “todo lists” are now on Google calendar. I maintain various pieces vital information (passport number, contact numbers etc.) in Google spreadsheet. I rely on Google Adsense to finance this blog.
So if tommorrow Google disappears, I will have a tough time! Let me be clear, I am a big fan of Google. Their products simply kick ass and I am impressed by the way they have adopted Ajax in everything. But the reliance on Google for everything is frightening…
I came across the story of a small company who had gone out of business simply because their pages disappeared from Google Index (Possible reason? - trying to game google!). For example, 80% of the visitors to this blog come from Google search!
Another problem is the fact that the Made for Adsense (MFA) sites are getting smarter. Instead of just copying content, they are also building links. The net effect is that the original site which actually authored the content will be flagged as spam and may get removed from Google Index! It is a hard job that Google has in their hands!
April 5th, 2007 10:00
You are right Jayson, Google has a great influence on our lives and I use the Google search the most…
April 6th, 2007 00:17
God…I hate this whole Google Fan Boy Club. Seriously, Google is certainly the leader, but by no means are they the *only* ones out there. They do make products that are cool, for sure, but there are others who are equally good.
Search : ever tried http://search.yahoo.com ?
Online calendar/todo lists : http://zoho.com/
Google is the market leader in search and KeyWord advertising. Period. If you look at their other projects objectively, then I believe that you would find others that are equally, if not better.
Trust me, Its this cheerleader thing that gets me. When google does something, it becomes a thing of beauty de facto. Its similar to the Macstrubators (i.e. SteveJobbators)
attitude. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Okay, I’ll take my medicine now.
April 6th, 2007 20:51
I never said there are no other good products. But when you already use a couple of their services, it makes sense to use their other services as well.
I don’t want to create account for every service I use!
April 11th, 2007 01:26
I too use all things Google! I mainly urge family members to switch to Google apps such as Gmail so that we can share calendars. Yeah there are other equivalent web sites out there, but Google seems to do a good job integrating their various products. And that is most convenient! Picasa and Google Notebook are other good ones that come to mind. Some of my favorite non-Google sites are Flickr and del.icio.us. And if Google came out with it’s own online bookmarking site, then I wouldn’t find the need to switch unless it really integrated well. Nice article BTW.