The Cult of Google
While most of us here at Threadwatch are familiar with the all unwavering legions of Google huggers across the internet, traditional media is starting to pick up on it as well, notice this piece from the Economist.com
This zeal is starting to annoy some people. One visitor to the company's “Googleplex” in Silicon Valley “felt as if I were in the company of missionaries”. A consequence of the theory that Google is aiming to run the world could be that “Google may be less liked in the industry than Microsoft inside 12 months,” says Pip Coburn, a technology analyst. Bloggers have started accusing Google of hubris and arrogance. Paul Saffo at Silicon Valley's Institute for the Future says that “Google is a religion posing as a company.”
Is the medias love affair with all things Google starting to show signs of ending? Can the Googlites in Mountain View turn the tide? Should they keep releasing new products grabbing more and more land, or retreat and shore up existing ventures?
And the final quote from that article..
Its a thought proking article, and ends with
They have always wanted to be "scalable", haven't they
until they release a GPod
One day Google will achieve a status such that they can produce a small mp3 player (a GPod?) with limited battery life, limited storage, DRM lock downs, and an easily scratched case, for 5 times market value..... and sell it out immediately. Then, and only then, will they be king.
It's Love Hate
Whether they love Google or Hate them they just keep writing about them so it's irrelevant.
Last night even Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update' mentioned Google:
"The French just launched their own version of Google named Quaero where you just type in whatever you're searching for and it refuses to look it up for you!"
Mainstream search engine humor, what a concept.
Last night even Saturday
They actually mentioned them twice. Before Weekend Update, earlier in the show they did a song about what one would find if they Googled you.
Regardless if the media is turning on Google or not, the public is just starting their love affair with them. I hear the word Google on nearly every sitcom or show I watch lately. (Heard Will & Grace talking about Googling something the other night.)
OTOH
the public is just starting their love affair with them. I hear the word Google on nearly every sitcom or show I watch lately.
That's one way to look at it. The other way is that when Google starts getting talked about on all these mainstream outlets, they have officially jumped the shark. :-)
Good point
Good point when the thirty somethings start thinking something is cool, their kids will eventually think it is un-cool because mom and dad use it.
Nah
I don't think it is jumping the shark, I think it is officially branding Google as a verb in the vocabulary of the mainstream public. I hear more people say "Google this" or "Google that" that I can't see how these other search engines are going to catch up in the near future. Everytime that appears on a TV show is another group of people that will switch or have the term remain imbedded in their mind.
I don't see negative publicity really hurting them as long as they still produce relevant results. Microsoft is one of the most hated companies out there and I surely don't see the majority of the public throwing out their OS for Linux. As well as Firefox has done, it is such a small percent. So even if Google started flying Nazi flags outside the Plex in a year, do you really think the average Internet user is going to break habit and use a different search engine that may not be as good?
But yes, they have created a somewhat cult like atmosphere and built a strong following. Whether it's because you bought your house on that Adsense check they send or the sweet lamb dinner they served at the last convention, they have done the necessary things to build a loyal following.
Verb
Googling something rolls off the tongue easier than MSNing something and being asked to "Yahoo it" conjures imagines of Deliverance and someone squealing like a pig
You were probably joking, but...
Bill, that's actually a pretty insightful observation. You can't easily VERB the other search engines, can you? You can't MSN'it, and people would shoot ice cream out of their noses if you suggested "Microsoft'ing" or "AOL'ing" something (though I'm surprised "To AOL" never became a descriptor for bombarding someone or something with senseless junk, as in "Oh my God, Marge, I just picked up the mail, and we got hella AOL'd!" But I digress).
I know some of this is self-perpetuating and evident in retrospect (Googling sounds at least not-terribly-awkward because we're used to it), but if you were Microsoft or Yahoo or Ask, trying to build your brand, what would you do? I mean, seriously, if you were trying to negotiate a product placement, for instance, what would you have the character say?
* * *
On a related note, I wonder what the intersection is between Apple and Google fandom. I'm a Google fan (duh), but not all that impressed with Apple. With that said, I wonder if most Google-fans are very fond of Apple or visa versa or...?
Okay, sometimes I just wonder about things too much :D
* * *
But wait, there's more! I was just thinking that... hmm... EVERY highly-praised company and person has their downfall someday, typically suddenly and harshly (as a society, we LOVE to tear down what we've built up)... but then, there's that pesky Apple again. Still largely beloved, albeit with some bumps and warts. The pendulum has never, IMHO, swung towards the Evil-o-meter with Apple. And it's not from Apple's humility or lack of hubris, either ;) Hmm!