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Since its conception in 1998, it has become the most widely used search engine in the world. Everyday people turn to Google for answers, with 200 million searches being conducted on Google in 88 different languages (Friedman T. L., 2003). Google has evolved into a cultural phenomenon. It has been common place to use the word Google as a verb. “To Google� means to search for something on Google, and to get “Googled� means someone has used Google to check up on you. It has even become an official part of the German language with the addition of the word “Googlen� in the Duden (Zschunke, P., 2004). Getting Googled has been recently attributed to saving the life of John Martinkus, an Australian journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq. He claims that the kidnappers searched for his name on Google to verify that he was not working for the CIA or a contractor (BBC, 2004).
Two reasons often cited for Google’s popularity are its simplicity and the lack of advertising on it (Katz, I., 2004), as well as its ability to turn up accurate results quickly, with most searches requiring less then half a second to complete. This coupled with a massive database of over a billion pages, means that users have little chance of searching for something and turning up with no results.
With the advent of WiFi technologies, the ability to access Google’s gigantic database over a wireless network connection means that people will be able to get answers to just about any questions anywhere has led some people to likening it to having a connection with God (Friedman T. L., 2003). There has even been a church set up dedicated to Google on Orkut. The Universal Church of Google was founded on the basis that Google is God-like because it can provide immediate answers to nearly every question. It was set up with the purpose of increasing the knowledge of its members and it’s only commandment is to search Google once a week with a question they do not know the answer to (WebProNews, 2004).
Google has even become the subject of a course at the University of Washington Information School. In the course, students study different aspects of Google such as Google as a cultural phenomenon, Google the business and the technology behind Google (Flash, C., 2004).
Google has spawned a range of activities which include Google Whacking (Gebhardt, M., 2003), which challenges people to search for a combination of 2 words without quotation marks that will only turn up one result. Those who manage it will be allowed to enter their names on to the “Whack Stack�, which serves as a sort of high score list. In contrast, there is also Googlefighting, in which users enter 2 terms into the search boxes, which have their results compared. The term that returns with the greater number of results is the winner. Googlism is another Google game, in which users enter a word, and in return gets Google’s opinion as a summary of the search results.
People use Google for everything from academic research, to research on potential dates. “Googling� a date has become a common practice and some people Vanity-Google themselves as well, to see how many hits will turn up about them (Serjeant, J. 2004).
There are also fan sites that are dedicated to Google. Sites like Googlefan and google-blog.dirson.com follow Google news, creating a sort of Google community where Google fans can discuss the latest developments that have taken place in or around Google.
There are also a variety of other sites that have appeared around Google:
Cooking with Google: Users enter a few ingredients and the kind of recipe they are looking for, and Google will find a list of recipes.
Cruel Google Game: Users find a random image in Google Image Search, and link the Image to this thread, along with a cruel caption.
Google Backwords: A mirror image of the original Google Page. Even the results come backwards.
Google Art: Users an draw images that will be posted to Google's usenet.
Google Games and Fun Sites: A comprehensive list of over 70 Google based activities.
Youth_Culture_and_New_Technologies-Youth_Access_to_Information
Google
Google-GMail
Google-AdSense
Google-IPO
Google-How_It_Works
BBC.COM (2004, 19 Oct) "Google 'saved' Australian hostage" BBC.CO.UK Retrieved 19 Oct, 2004 from: BBC.CO.UK
Friedman T.L. (2003) “Is Google God?� The New York Tmes, 29 June, 2003 pg. 4.13
Zschunke, P. (2004, 02 Sept) “Googeln in the New Duden� Stern.de, Retrieved 13 Sept, 2004 from: stern.de
Katz, I. (2004) “Despite Late Start, Internet Search Engine Google Becomes Cultural Icon�, Knight Ridder Tribune News, 16 May, 2004. pg. 1
WebProNews (2004, May 4) “Google Finds Religion�, WebProNews.com Retrieved 13 Sept, 2004 from: WebProNews.com
Flash, C. (2004, Feb. 2) “Google for a Grade: UW Class to study popular search engine� Seattle Times, Retrieved 13 Sept, 2004 from: seattletimes.nwsource.com
Gebhardt, M. (2003) “Googling and Googlewhacking�, Inside the Internet, Oct 2003. Vol. 10, Iss. 10; pg. 15
Serjeant, J. (2004, April 30) “How Google Became a Cultural Phenomenon� Boston Globe, Retrieved 13 Sept, 2004 from: boston.com
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Sherwin Huang 11:46, 27 Oct 2004 (EST)
