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23/07: Life Before and After Google

I came across an interesting blog post today about one man's experiment to see if he could live without Google. I suppose I should clarify that because on the face of it makes the writer sound more than a little sad, but it is actually a quite thought provoking piece and not for once a Google bashing rant. You can read about Jimmy's Life Without Google here. 

I remember when I first went online with my 14.4K modem and a service provider who charged a monthly fee and call charges from my phone services at some ridiculous rate per minute. Ah, those were the days......

but I digress. I also remember the person who introduced me to the whole concept of the internet as we sat in his den and had a coffee while we waited for the PC to boot up, the dial-up to connect us, and the mythical (to me) connection to the web to display it's first page on screen. (this used to take quite a while) The first web page I ever laid eyes on was Alta Vista, one of the bigger search engines of the time. There followed some rather juvenile activity as my friend assured me we could type anything into the search engine and it would return a result....I was skeptical as well as juvenile despite being in my thirties, so the less said about my first experience of a search engine the better! 

It was reading the above mentioned article that set me on this train of thought. I remember when there was a huge choice of search engines and, hard as it is to believe now, Google was not even heard of. And yet here we are in 2007 with most of those search engines long since dead and the dominant presence of Google giving birth to countless conspiracy theories and twittering about monopolies and privacy issues and government spies, big brother and lord knows what else.

Like most internet users the rise of Google has affected me in various ways. Whilst I am not a Google conspiracy theorist, Google basher, Google lover, Google hater or Google alarmist, I do think it is regrettable that there is so little real competition nowadays, particularly for search. Having said that, Google works and that is why it became what it did in the search engine business. Back in the day there was far greater choice, but, it was needed because the same search terms on different engines would return a very wide variety of results, and there were no consistently "best" results until.......well, you get the idea. 

I started thinking about my use of Google services and how I compared to some of the commentators on the article in the above mentioned blog.

Search - predictably I use Google, but equally as often I turn to Yahoo, maybe because historically they were "big" before Google domination and used to advertise their directory on television, making them quite unique in their day. I've tried brief flirtations with others, MSN, AOL (now basically Google results) and one or two smaller ones but I return to the fold like most of us when I don't find what I'm looking for. I'm not suggesting Google always gets it right, but, they give a very wide range of results which means you will be far more likely to get to what you want, even if it isn't on the holy grail of the first page. I don't particularly like Ask and don't tend to use it, I've used A9 with reasonable results too. I have a dislike of all "paid" directories (yes, I know Yahoo has a pay for inclusion service) because it somehow  - if you can't pay, you don't get to play - goes against the idealistic views I once held about the web giving everyone a voice.

As a blogger and webmaster I am also well aware that the bulk of my organic traffic comes via Google. I get a trickle from the others, Yahoo in second place but a very distant one, plus the odd visit from Netscape or AOL. I think this is familiar territory to many. As for the open directory it seems almost impossible to get listed anymore, particularly if you advertise and are relatively insignificant ;-)

I do use several of the social bookmarking services, particularly for blogging and marketing related searches. Places like Stumbleupon and Del.ic.ious are very useful as are many of the others. Indeed, using selected social sites could replace the big G if you were really so inclined.

Other Google services I use. Well, I use Feedburner so that's one since Google's recent acquisition. However, I don't use Google reader because I'm a fan of Newsgator for my RSS subscriptions and haven't bothered to try many others. My browser is Firefox, so another hit there for Google and I've just started, as an experiment, to use Google Analytics for stats. I just want to see how they compare with Feedburner's take on things for a while. When Picassa first appeared I downloaded it and it gathers dust on my hardrive. I don't use GMail and never have, no particular reason, just never needed it.

I don't use Google's toolbar and it's one product of theirs that I really don't like. I think the whole page rank system sucks and has always sucked and time is beginning to prove many doubters right, as it has lately caused much division throughout the online world. In a way it's a Google creation that has  turned round and bitten them in the a**. Space for toolbars is limited and I do have quite a few, but Google's will never be one of them.

As I have stated before, I chose not to use Adsense after the first "warning" I received from them. I didn't like the whole tone and method of their automated impersonal accusations and I do think it's one area where they could and should do better. Yes they should deal with click fraud firmly, but, they should also have a far better mechanism in place for innocent publishers to appeal against things like bans, where they can more easily prove their innocence. If they can't, fair enough. Perhaps rather than banning publishers without trial, there should simply be a refusal to pay for all invalid click activity. Publishers would soon fall into line, without the need to close so many accounts. Anyway, that's another subject and I doubt my decision not to participate will cause G any sleepless nights!  

I suppose if I wanted to be Google free I probably could, but it seems a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Internet end users want  the best services they can get, and if they can get them for free, all the better. Is it really any wonder Google is so dominant? Ultimately is it really worth getting all riled up over? Most new internet users, at least in the English speaking world,  will use Google search too, and as a result will gravitate to a lot of Google's extra (free) services. To my mind it makes good business sense for Google to operate the way they do. Not everyone can even remember the internet before Google. To say that they ARE the internet is, in many people's eyes, no less than the truth. 

As with all things, success and market dominance brings with it the whiners and the complainers and those who will look to exploit big and rich organizations with dubious lawsuits and claims of wrong doings. Let's be honest, when did you last get as much for free from any other global company? Google is now about shareholders, big bucks advertising, profits and global reach and has made a lot of people a lot of money. Just because it's a poster child for "capitalism works for some" but you missed the boat, just grin and bear it.  If those worried about data collection and privacy issues still haven't realized that they became part of the big Orwellian machine the day their birth was registered, they have much to learn. Market research is worth huge money - do you really expect corporations to ignore it? If you're really worried about monitoring of your online habits maybe  you should go back to the good old fashioned "top shelf" delivery of your private entertainment :-) (for those born after 1980 just ask your dad OK). 

So, how do you stack up in all this? Are you a Google lover or hater? What makes Google worth it for you or what makes it despicable? Can you exist online without them, would you choose to if you could? 

TCH

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tags: love google, hate google, google monopoly, google sucks, discussing Google, Google News, Google Alternatives