Google. A regular column on the information industries
| Pages | 191-194 |
| Date | 12 March 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-10-2017-0053 |
| Published date | 12 March 2018 |
| Author | Peter Curwen |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information policy |
Rearview
Google
A regular column on the information industries
Peter Curwen
The word “Google”, used as a synonym
for “search”, is now ubiquitous in
conversational English. When the author
was a young academic, the term
“search” meant going to the library and
examining the contents of books and
journals, but libraries are now learning
centres where you go to chat while
googling the vast expanses of the
world’s knowledge on the internet. Even
the most die-hard of researchers
cannot deny that their task has become
much more efficient and productive
even if they worry, with good reason,
that those who google as a matter of
course often cannot tell truth from fiction
in what they discover.
This phenomenonis of surprisingly
recent vintageeven if, by now, more
or less an entire generation has grown
up using search engines. In practice,
Google was by no meansthe first of
these, but who remembersits
predecessors(or, indeed, the
predecessorsof Facebook)? Hence, it
is highly pertinentto ask how Google
has managed virtually to corner the
worldwide searchengine market of
which it currentlycontrols more than
70 per cent –but 10 per cent more in
the case of mobile-based searches,
as its Android operating system (O/S)
is far and away the most commonly
used in mobile devices,and it pays
Apple $3bn a yearto be the default
search engine on devicesusing the
Apple IoS.
Historically, the efficient organization of
knowledge in such a way as to facilitate
directed searches was a matter for
human intervention. However, although
other companies preceded Google in
the realization that algorithms –sets of
rules that can be used in problem-
solving, especially by computers –
could be used to sort through the
rapidly growing volume of material
being deposited on the internet, Google
introduced a more sophisticated range
of factors for ranking the relevance of
responses to a search enquiry, and
then continued to make its algorithms
increasing sophisticated until its
competitors fell by the wayside. Google
became the near-default search engine
simply because it was better than its
rivals.
However, as is immediately evident,
simply providing a free search engine
for users is the road to ruin, and, as with
all start-ups, the key issue rapidly
became a need to make money from
one source or another. The solution
adopted by Google some three years
into its existence was to charge
advertisers to have their names and
services appear alongside search
results. This so-called AdWords model
struggled initially but took off rapidly
once Google introduced an automatic
pay-per-click version that remains in
force today.
AdWords was followed by AdSense
which is a system for Google to sell
Peter Curwen is Professor at
Newcastle Business School,
Northumbria University,
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
Received 2 October 2017
Revised 2 October 2017
Accepted 10 January 2018
DOI 10.1108/DPRG-10-2017-0053 VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018, pp. 191-194, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 jDIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE jPAGE 191
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