Google

Since becoming a verb, Google has expanded and upgraded services for users worldwide. In the first reading it opens with Dan Firger's story about how he is constantly being updated by Google and his Gmail account that sends him reminders via his online calendar of where to be. I can relate to this, not because my phone is blowing up with emails from Google, but because I too know what it's like to rely on technology to tell me where to be. I use my phone as an alarm and do print out calendars that I have Google'd (since I still prefer to pencil-in where I'm suppose to be) but the point is we are all somewhat like Firger. We have grown up in this technology-focused era that stresses the importance of using the internet to do everyday tasks.

Google is a very powerful tool and it is because they are so specific to the person using their site. They have thousands of apps and tools for users to utilize that can make YOU feel like YOU are the most important thing! They use cookies and previously visited sites to learn what you are interested in, then compile advertisements that YOU want to see (based on what you have previously viewed). It's remarkable, and kind of creepy, how much they know.

As Google continues to purchase other sites, for example YouTube, the company is growing even more. They are creating more user-friendly, fast-paced, specific features that are convenient for nearly everyone. They are referred to as "Apotocratic" by Vaidhyanathan which essentially means they focus on numbers and regimen. To explain, the Google enterprise hires team members who have proved their intelligence by taking standardized tests to see how likely they are to succeed at helping improve services. Even when you search for something, it is based on numbers. Google uses the page rank system that lists the first related page to a search query based upon the number of links it has compiled. It is an ingenious, complicated, mathematical formula that pushes the (usually) most related and reliable pages to the top.

This method, along with its drive to expand with more ownership and apps for iPad, phones, etc. are giving users exactly what they have been demanding. Although Yahoo is a big competitor for Google, lately they have sort of fallen off the map. In the last reading we see an outline of a Yahoo meeting where they were promoting the "new and improved Yahoo". The only problem was, it's trying to do this several months after Google has already done it. It seems that Yahoo is falling short just by a hair, but that is enough to push Google to having a much higher usage rate. It's not that Yahoo isn't good, it's just that right now Google is more advanced and better. But only in ways that suggest having more is better.

Google is more popular than ever and at this rate who know when, or if it will stop. As long as there is a demand for newer and better technology, Google is going to keep pushing the limits and giving back something that satisfies that demand I believe.