The incorporation of a company’s name into our vocabulary is the biggest indication of the needs that it meets and the services it provides to society. Can’t find something? Google it! This is the motto that has made us forget what life was like before the existence of the search engine that has become so much more than that…
Google is turning 20, after moving from a garage to offices around the world, from being “just” a search engine – which was pioneering for its time due to the way it indexed results – to one of the biggest technology companies in the world. What else has changed – and what has changed us – since 1998?
- The search leader: we don’t deny that its beginnings as a search engine are the foundation of the business and the recognition it has received. These are the most popular searches by year, a true catalogue of social trends.
- Software and technological products: The Chrome browser, the advertising system Google Adwords, the email server Gmail and work management system Google Drive, Google Maps and Street View…who hasn’t used one of their products at least once?
- A continually innovative, unique business model: despite the criticisms surrounding privacy that have been affecting all companies in the sector lately, Google established a business model that knows how to generate suitable products that meet the needs of the consumer, with a majority of them being free and intuitive to use. The journalist and investigator Jeff Jarvis breaks it down in his book What Would Google Do?
- Not everything is successful…Google Glass was the biggest announcement and the biggest failure for the technology company. It’s not the only one: here are some others.
- Who is the gatekeeper of the internet? The growth of Google brought with it the debate surrounding the need (or the lack of a need) for regulations and they even had to battle censorship in some countries.
These have been the main milestones for Google during its 20-year history. What’s to come will be a question of continuing to google…
