Google Competition.
I’ve written before on the power of search engines, specifically, Google. Though an entire industry is built around search engine optimization, much of the goal for this activity is no different from the goal that makes businesses name themselves AAA-AARDVARK ( plumbing, appliance repair, escort service, whatever.) The goal is to show up first, ideally with the most compelling message.
For whatever reasons, netizens have made Google a virtual search monopoly. (I think much of that was originally at least partially because the home search page is so sparse, creating a comforting feeling of space for the user as well as a feeling of power. (You won’t fill the page up until you type something to search for.) After that, well, habit and the adoption of the free Google services took hold.
Over time, Google ran amok, in my opinion. Story placement on the news page shaping opinions, a long-standing refusal to acknowledge Memorial Day and Veterans Day (apparently Google has changed position on this, thankfully,) getting into advertising creation, taking street-level photos, satellite photos, etc. These are only what we know about.
Now I read about some possible competition for Google, Blekko. (I’m not too wild about that name. If Aflac sounds like a sneeze, Blekko sounds like someone hurling.) But competition for Google can only be good.
Now let me be honest and tell you I have no real grasp of web measurements and their meanings or methods. For instance, when this same blog was at a different domain, it was, if I recall, 6 of 10 in Google pagerank, which is a measure of “Google’s view of importance…” Now it’s zero, and yet it’s the same content, only more of it. (This is the reason I’ve reinstalled my Google AdWords code in the sidebar, now appended with a real-time Google pagerank, so you can see who buys or places ads on sites of zero importance. Who does that? As of this moment, those of a spiritual bent, apparently.
As long as we’re talking about pagerank, let’s head over to Blekko. Please note this page has a pagerank of two.
Part of the reason I’m so fascinated by search engine wars is that so many classic themes and conflicts play out there, particularly good versus evil and the universal, ironic force that moves us to become what we hate. One the one hand in this case, we have Google, which professes to be guided by the all-purpose catchphrase “don’t be evil” and on the other, there’s Blekko, the patron saint of hurling, founded by Rich Skrenta, the man who reportedly created the first computer virus — on an Apple, no less. Where does this story go? Redemption, corruption? Is it a story without end? If it does end, will we know? When does the ghost of Edward Bernays show up? Or if he already has, when does he go away?
Regardless, Skrenta’s blog is now on the feed list in SandwichLand.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I agree with the idea that Google’s sort of ubiquity on the web is greatly a result of user habit. Of course, the equation of Google’s success has much more terms, known and unknown.
It’s also interesting the way you look at the search engine wars. The Manichean dynamics between the benevolent Google giant — at least in terms of promoted public image — and the malevolently ambitious Blekko dwarf — maybe with a bit of suggestive exaggeration. I think people can’t escape this kind of thinking because it’s deeply rooted into their unconscious.
January 6th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
The unconscious?! Dammit, I knew Bernays and Freud were involved. Actually, I don’t look at Blekko as malevolent. All I know of Blekko right now is what I’ve read, combined with the image of the spontaneous puppetry on their page. But I do have some concerns about Google because of their disproportionate power to shape public opinion and invade privacy. Regardless of their intent, I think it’s possible that so much power is itself inevitably evil, though that could just be remnants of my liberal arts training flaring up.
When you say “People can’t escape this kind of thinking,” the implication is that it’s incorrect or undesirable. However, also inescapable from time to time is the truth, or at least cause-and-effect facts, though these are often revealed only when all is said and done.
Still, I’m happy to try on a new way of thinking if it allows me to perceive the actual situation more accurately. And that’s why I’m now subscribed to Smartmobs. Thanks for drifting by, Marius.