As y’all know, I just got a new smartphone. On Thursday night my wife and I went to a training class on how to use the sucker. We learned a lot of stuff, but one thing in particular has finally convinced me that Google really is everywhere and pretty much owns us; yup, they really do.
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To use my particular smartphone to its fullest capability one has to have a Google account. It turns out my wife has a Google email account, which I knew of but she’s never used it. I obviously have a Google account because of Adsense, but it turns out that according to Google I also have an email address, which I never knew because I never set up a Gmail account. They just up and gave me one; I still have no idea how to access it or if I should access it because I’m worried about what might be in there. lol
As I started to think about it I realized that I, and probably a lot of people, are already owned by or used by Google in some fashion. Let’s see how all of this works:
1. Gmail. Okay, that one’s pretty easy to understand.
2. Adsense & Adwords. Once again, pretty easy to understand.
3. Feedburner – many people don’t know that Google owns them as well. So, whenever you create a RSS feed through there you’re working with Google.
4. YouTube – yup, they own YouTube as well. As a matter of fact, I’m now wondering if, when I created my Google account, they gave me the YouTube username that I now “enjoy”, since I don’t ever remember signing up for it.
5. Google Apps – I don’t use any of these, but I know a lot of people do. I’ve read some shared documents that people have stored on Google, and I’m not sure but I think one has to have a Google account to view them, even if they didn’t have a Google account for anything else.
6. Google now has both a browser and its own operating system. And there are still tons of folks using both Google toolbar and Google desktop search; I’m a user of the latter.
7. Of course there’s Google itself, the search engine. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t pony up Google first, or at least at some point during their day if they’re on the computer.
There’s no despair as I write this, just acceptance. There’s also no fear; it seems that, based on the fact that I haven’t played any online poker at all since the government raid, that I’m not really missing it all that much, which means if something happened and Google decided to try to whip my behind I’d survive and find something else to do. Of course they’re not going to do that; who am I to them, other than the fact that they took my page rank away on this blog, as well as the possibility of having Adsense, which I never made any money from here anyway, and they’ve never responded to anything I’ve ever sent them.
I feel like I’m missing something; anyone know what it might be?
this is my first visit in this blog, and I really read the comment policy and the fake commenter. It gives me an idea that somehow it is really important to read that, before you start to comment. thank you for that. Anyways, you’re right, this is really true, that Google is everywhere. the first thing I encountered it, the same thing like you do, is when I start to sign in the my youtube account, when I hit the the sign in button in youtube it gives me an account in google. Wow, is this true? this is cool. I can’t believe it.
Yup, it’s true, and there’s really no escaping it. Welcome to the blog Conde.
They also own Blogger…
😉
I’ve got a gmail account that I rarely use as I like to keep my mail in folders and am not a great fan of tags. I’ve had my gmail account for a couple of years and I still get confused by it. That said, since I’ve had it I’ve only ever had one item of spam in it. Because of that, recently I’ve been wondering about using it more or maybe switching over to it completely.
As far as I know, when you sign up for one Google thing, you have automatic access – or at least potential automatic access – to all the rest. But I read somewhere something about being careful about using the same gmail for youtube as you use for other things as there’s some security issue. Can’t remember what, unfortunately.
Ah yes, I forgot about Blogger; thanks. lol Google just must do all that stuff, but it probably wouldn’t hurt the rest of us to tell us that. I have to admit, though, that the names they gave me for my Google account and my Gmail account are kind of cool.
Whoops, sorry, forgot to put in the emphasis end tag….
That’s okay Val, I fixed it.
The good thing about Google is if you ever find yourself suffering from amnesia, they can tell you all about yourself. I think a clothing line is next so they can record wardrobe preferences and add that data into AdWords.
Melinda, they already have that clothing line, as I’ve seen a host of Google related clothing out there on the market. That plus they probably get a piece of the profits from someone else who makes clothes.
It’s really interesting to see the growth and develop of Google. By looking online you’ll also find countless companies they’ve purchased and absorbed, just to keep strong in the market. They’re here; and here to stay.
I agree with you Christian. They’re in so many places that it’s mind boggling at times. And it seems they’re not afraid to fail either, which is unique among companies of their ilk.
Hey Mitch,
Interesting that they own youtube as well.I think their best is yet to come.I like their android OS very much.Its the future of the mobile technology.
Shivam, I guess that’s what I have on my phone but I don’t have enough knowledge yet to know if it’s better than any other service. I do know this, though; these smartphones don’t hold a charge worth anything! lol
Google is everywhere, about 4-5 years ago, the company started expanding in every possible direction. I think the only thing that they lack now is social network – twice fail with Orkut and Google Buzz.
I guess you are right Dennis, however it is the same scenario, nobody can beat Google on search market and nobody can beat Facebook at social networks.
Carl, didn’t they have something else that failed as well? I’m not sure if Google 411 counts as a failure or if it was just technology that was passed by. However, my mind thinks there was something else, but I’m not sure.
good post, google is really the big thing and some people think they will disappear one day or get beaten by another search engine!
Hi Mitch,
It’s true that Google is everywhere and it is the king of the search engine. Google has so many feature and it is easy to use. And people also are familiar with this search engine. It’s like Google in our everyday online works.
Google docs and Google maps are pretty nifty apps from Google as well.
Goodness Ron, I forgot about Google Maps, although I think I might be counting them in with all the other stuff that begins with “Google” as its name. But now I’m wondering if “Froogle” counts as a fail, since it’s another service they had that’s gone.
Although i don’t use much my Gmail account, I’m addicted to Google – the search engine.
It’s hard not to be, Mia, especially after Bing was outed as stealing much of their search stream from Google. lol
Yes, but: Google implements cookies in your browser that track your behavior online, if your friend has Gmail they track your conversations etc. So without knowing you still give them tons of info
Actually Jeff, from what I’ve read that’s not totally true. If you use Google Toolbar it does, but not if you pull up the actual page and go in that route. I’ve refused to use the Google Toolbar for that very reason.
I think we can thank our lucky stars that Microsoft bought Skype otherwise I’m sure Google would have loved to get it’s hands on it. Perhaps the fact that it was losing money blinded it to it’s possibilities?
I wonder how many people use Googles operating system. The browser is one thing but I can’t see myself taking it that far. Heck I hardly use Chrome anyway as FireFox is my preferred browser.
Same here, Sire. I thought Google’s OS was only on notebooks at this point; have they expanded into regular computers yet? As for being happy that Microsoft bought Skype, well, I’m not overly sure how I feel about that either, but it doesn’t impact me since I don’t have Skype yet.
I use it and it’s save me heaps. I’ll continue to use it as long as they don’t change things too much.
I use Skype a lot. Even pay for the Skype-to-landline service. I’m not so sure it’s a good thing Microsoft, instead of Google, bought Skype. Google is already offering a free calling service. Skype would have been an excellent complement to its Google Voice offering. We’ll have to wait and see what shakes out.
Vernessa, the only service I’ve used thus far for communications is Logitech’s, since it came with the computer. One of these days I’ll have to load Skype onto my and my wife’s computers and give it a shot, even though I read that last week many of their customers had access issues.
Heck Dennis, I’m thinking that’s probably enough. However, if you’ve ever seen any YouTube videos then you have to add that one as well.
How can you miss that, Dennis? You watch a video and they get an idea of the types of things you like. Have you ever just opened YouTube up on its own and seen how they’re suggesting videos to you based on previous videos you’ve watched? With that info, they then target you with certain ads, which I’m sure you’ve seen in certain videos as well.
Really? Never? Wow…
Hi, Mitch. Google’s presence online has helped a lot of us. I am very much a fan of the search engine, the Google Analytics and the Google Reader, not to mention the AdWord. As somebody who do web design, I also use Google Chrome to see is my designs work on every browser, although I usually use Firefox as well. Gmail is also good about preventing spam from going into your inbox so I guess that’s another thing I like about Google as well.
Wes, I’m just one of those people wary about just how much one company intrudes on my, well, space. It’s not like buying regular stuff and bringing it into your home, even if you buy it from the same store. These folks interpret what you do, track your information, use it to advertise on you, and at any moment can give it all to any governmental agency and, well, track you and whatever. All that and the breaches of information that we hear about all the time, including from Google or Google partners. It’s just, well, overwhelming sometimes.
If it’s Google, I live there. I love Chrome and installed it the day it came out. I also use the OS and have been as happy as a clam since I did. It’s so relaxing and easy that I can switch from one Google platform to another and never have to log in or out of anything; and since all of my preferences are connected, it’s like the internet and my entire computer experience really does revolve around me.
Maye that’s a little egocentric on my part, but if my computer one day spelled out the words, “Good morning, Delena,” I would just smile, pet my computer lovingly, and say, “Hello, Google.”
Delena
I don’t think it’s egocentric, Delena. You like the user experience, and don’t mind that it can get to know you that well. I’m from the time period of hearing almost all the time about the Soviets spying on us and the worry that other world powers could learn our secrets and use them against us; military kid and all that. It’s a different generation, one that worries a bit more about those things we can’t control, whether we really ever had control or not.
Yes, Google is indeed everywhere, Mitch. Without it, I’d be floundering for sure. I use almost every Google application I know of. From the search engine to the email to the reader. I am absolutely dependent on both Firefox and Google Chrome because wanting to keep my sanity, I use Chrome for business purposes and Firefox for personal purposes, meaning I have both browsers open at the same time. So, practically everything I open on my laptop or my desktop computer breathes Google. 🙂
Glad that works for you, Kim. I’d never thought about how much Google has on me, and yet I do still retain some things that are private, though I figure it’s all going away now that I have the smartphone; sigh…
Don’t worry, Mitch. You’ll get used to it. 😀
Yep, you are right! Google is more the “Big Brother” than the government. Or, at least the government keeps a lower profile about it than Google. Heck, Google probably owns them too.
You’re probably right about that Allan.. It seems that the government informations have is nothing compared to what Google is having now.
Allan, I figure you kind of understand me, as we’re from a more closed generation, so to speak. It’s just freaky having someone other than the government watching and tracking you, if you know what I mean.
Yup, The big G does own almost anything, since you’ve got a smartphone, operated on Android.. it belongs to Google Inc too lol. Hopefully our very life does not owned by G too as many bloggers are depending on earnings from adsense.
Charleston, I think we’re just stuck with Google being the next big thing that’s slowing going to take over way too many things, and maybe I just need to mentally be prepared for it. That is, unless Dennis’ prediction comes around about someone else on the horizon waiting to surpass them.
Hi Mitch,
It is another interesting post and I enjoy reading it.Google is everywhere and I think life is now nothing without google.
Dennis, of course I’d have a business. There are other search engines, and I rank fairly high on those as well. Before Google there was Alta Vista, and before them Yahoo. YouTube & all the others existed before Google bought them. So yes, I think I’d do fairly well without Google. Actually, even you said to Carl that they’re only the current leader because eventually someone else will come along and overtake them.
No wonder why Google is number 1. But in terms of email source, I still find Yahoomail as the most powerful email service provider specially now they’ve integrated Facebook and Twitter in their platform.
Adie, a friend of mine likes Yahoo mail, but for me I prefer using Thunderbird & downloading all my email and handling it on my own.
Hey Mitch,
So many good points here about Google’s steady march towards world domination. Earlier you asked about another “failure.” I think you’re referring to Google Wave. I remember the madness about invites, and the giant wave of disappointment shortly after its release.
I use Gmail, YouTube, and a few other G services, but refuse everybody’s toolbars. Big brother is too tall already. Speaking of Thunderbird, I used to use it and I’m slowly migrating back to it. I really hate to know what Google already knows about me from reading my emails!
Vernessa, that’s why I don’t use Gmail, or even Yahoo or any of those other email services. I just have this feeling that it’s being read by someone I’d rather not have seeing any of it. Google Wave; that’s another one. I give them credit for trying, but does one company really have to try to be everything to everyone?