Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Ah, Google. Master of our hearts. Like Wikipedia, Google is becoming (or has become) our go-to for any sort of fact-finding mission. Unfortunately I think that Google has started to take advantage of the fact that their company name has become a common verb. "You can Ask Jeeves it" simply doesn't have the same ring to it. I like the autoGoogle feature, wherein the search guy living in the computer tries to guess what you're going to say. However, I like it more for the entertainment value than for the saving of my poor, overworked fingers. Although, in the age of smartphones, the autocomplete is useful. Google uses its position as the goto search engine to its own advantage. Because of the personalized advertising feature, Google can make a living off of selling our search histories. It can also promote companies that support it, rather than simply allowing the search results to show what is most relevant. Monopolies are always dangerous, even when ere only talking about search engines. Who is going to regulate Google's practices if there is no other search engine to turn to that can produce the same type of efficiency?
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I do not think Google will become some super-source for information because academically, we are still prohibited from using it. Google, like Wikipedia is not always reliable (and rather frustrating like the Bing commercials advertise). I think if they were to fix their credibility then yes, they might take over the ways in which we come to learn in the future. However, I just don't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteGoogle is definitely my go to site. I only use Google Chrome and I love it. It's super fast and yet, very simple to use. I refuse to use any other search engine than Google. I guess it is just the simplicity of it that makes me like it so much. I really like messing with the voice search thingy on it. I try messing it up and it is usually pretty easy. However, I never use it when I'm actually in a very to look something up; it's just not very useful. I did not know that they sold our histories though and I thought that was kind of interesting. I definitely do not like that if they do.
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