Revving up the search engine

The Pew articles were pretty straight forward and the results are easy to understand because I think the majority of users feel pretty much the same way. It makes so much sense for most of the initial users of the Internet were men, who stereotypically have been involved in science and technology in greater numbers than women. Its great to see that the gender gap in terms of Internet use is rapidly closing and soon women will outnumber men in terms of users. I'm not sure how I feel about the different ways that men and women use the Internet, which according to the Pew articles follow stereotypical patterns. It really underscores the idea that gender is socially constructed. Hopefully women will begin to make more and more contributions to the Internet and related technologies.

In my opinion search engines are one of the killer apps that really drives the growth of the Internet. It has become one of the most basic functions of the web. One finds it difficult to image how to navigate the web without a search engine. Aside from the major web portals like google, yahoo, and msn many sites offer an external search engine. Most browsers come now with a search box bundled with the web browser. For example, google search is inlcuded in the Firefox browser. Search can also be integrated into a personal web site.

Google can be arguably seen a both a boon and a curse. While the company has been able to maintain a relatively benign image in terms of public perception, its clear that its positive image is not entirely without cracks. Google is a corporation that is required by law to profit for its shareholders. The primary reason for the corporation's existence is the profit motive. Before google went corporate I'm sure that its vision was not as driven by this fact. Now, the corporate model erases a bit of the of the startup innocence that most tech startups have initially. Most of the original employees depart whenever a company goes public. While this can mainly be attributed employees being inundated with cash from stocks, its pretty clear that many will want to abandon the corporate ethos. Look at Microsoft, it started out as this small company and now many people consider it to be an evil empire. Google now looks at Microsoft in the same way that Microsoft looked at IBM when Microsoft was the new kid on the block. Google may very well become the next Microsoft. One significant difference between the companies is Google's committment to the open-source model. Then again, this seems a bit similar to the way in which Microsoft approached marketing its os to IBM. IBM thought the money was to be made in the machines and not the software. Google's committment to open-source may just be shrewd business. IBM and Microsoft's adherence to proprietary standards has made them vulnerable in the emerging web economy, by limiting the possibility of innovation.

Googles' reliance on advertising is somewhat alarming. The amount of data they have access to is also alarming and goes hand in hand with the company's advertising strategy. The company's recent refusal to cooperate with the U.S. government is commendable. However, Google's launch of Google.cn, in which they cooperate with the Chinese government is a bit unsettling as well. Their argument that a limited Google is preferable to no Google at all is slightly convincing, but one wonders how much profits from the site played into the decision to launch the site.

On the positive side, Google News is a great product in that it supports the possibility of multiple viewpoints on the same story. Aggregating from 4500 sources helps reduce the significance of bias in a single news story, which I feel is of historic importance.

Its difficult to forecast what the search engine company of the future will look like. Google has certainly developed an exceedingly succesfful business model and open source strategy will no doubt keep them as the leader for years to come. A merger with Amazon does seem like a great fit for Google. Then again such a merger would centralize power and market share like we have never seen in the Internet sector previously. The next great search company may be lingering in the head of a graduate or undergraduate student as we speak, only time will tell.