In December 2003, Alex Salkever wrote an article for Businessweek describing his definition of "Googlization." He begins his article by talking about a new world in 2006 where everyone will go through Google to access other web sites and services, such as tracking Fed Ex packages or looking up movies in a local area. He concludes by saying, "Googlization means they [other companies] have to deal with a new, powerful intermediary seeking to embed itself ever deeper into the habits of Web surfers." The implication of this is Google will be stealing business and revenue from other websites by directing everybody through their search engine.
On the other side, John Battelle writes this isn't the first time companies have to deal with competition to promote their products. Although, he does point out Salkever's perspective is only from one angle. Regarding Salkever's article he writes "[w]hat's interesting here are the assumptions regarding Google's motivations - that the company is entirely motivated by the desire to garner more "real estate" against which it can sell ads. A reasonable assumption for a business magazine to make - that a company is being driven by the motivation to make more money. But that's quite distinct from what folks at Google state they are doing - leveraging searchable data to make a consumer's life easier."
As searchers, we're left to interpret what Google's intention is for ourselves. Are they trying to make things easier for consumers/searchers to find things? Or are they trying to dominate the web as a means to make more money and ensure their success? Then again, these articles were written in 2003, so maybe we need to examine a more recent usage of the word.
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