Why we fear Google
You can find here a very good, differentiated discussion of Google´s significance for publishers: "Warum wir Google fürchten"(in German). It discusses how publishers depend on Google, pay them and in the same time fight them. Must we all fear Google?
We all play two roles in Google´s game: We are those who search for knowledge and we also offer information via the internet and expect Google to help us being found.
Google makes things transparent. But due to selection algorithms, SEO and paid advertisements, they also distort our perception of the world. Websites not listed by Google o na top place practically do not exist. So, when you set up a website, you must know Google´s algorithms to optimize the probability that you are found. You not only optimize websites for the reader, but for Google, too! Well, this is marketing.
What we must never forget, however, is that the Internet is still ours. As the data sources and data owners, we must take care what we publish and how, and we must defend our data. Why do people use Gmail when they know that Google can read their emails? Why do they store confidential documents in Google.doc? Anyway, why do we produce so many electronic data? Does everything in our live need documentation?
And as someone looking for information, we must not forget that there are other ways of finding information than by Google. We can subscribe to newsletters, we can recommend websites to each other, we can link to other websites on ours. Just like in the old times when search engines were bad and led us to sex websites mainly. In these days, no-one trusted in search engines and when you did an online research, you asked friends and experts in discussion forums, you collected URL lists published in (printed) magazines, and people formed "web rings" where a list of webpages linked to each other in order to form a surf ring of websites treating similar topics. We can still do that!
We all play two roles in Google´s game: We are those who search for knowledge and we also offer information via the internet and expect Google to help us being found.
Google makes things transparent. But due to selection algorithms, SEO and paid advertisements, they also distort our perception of the world. Websites not listed by Google o na top place practically do not exist. So, when you set up a website, you must know Google´s algorithms to optimize the probability that you are found. You not only optimize websites for the reader, but for Google, too! Well, this is marketing.
What we must never forget, however, is that the Internet is still ours. As the data sources and data owners, we must take care what we publish and how, and we must defend our data. Why do people use Gmail when they know that Google can read their emails? Why do they store confidential documents in Google.doc? Anyway, why do we produce so many electronic data? Does everything in our live need documentation?
And as someone looking for information, we must not forget that there are other ways of finding information than by Google. We can subscribe to newsletters, we can recommend websites to each other, we can link to other websites on ours. Just like in the old times when search engines were bad and led us to sex websites mainly. In these days, no-one trusted in search engines and when you did an online research, you asked friends and experts in discussion forums, you collected URL lists published in (printed) magazines, and people formed "web rings" where a list of webpages linked to each other in order to form a surf ring of websites treating similar topics. We can still do that!
AndreaHerrmann - 17. Apr, 09:18
