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Elise Ashby

Mrs. Jenkins

EBA Honors English 10

18 December 2019

From Garage to Global Influence

Starting in a dorm room in 1998, two college students created a search engine called

BackRub to make it easier to use the World Wide Web. Within twenty years, this company “has

gone from being a geeky delight to something that influences the way we think” (Naughton).

The company was quickly renamed to Google and has quickly grown into more than just a

search engine. Today, its influence reaches people worldwide. Google has had many positive

impacts on the world allowing information to be accessed quickly and easily by anyone, but

many are concerned with how much power the business has on the way we think.

Even today, Google still has the same mission: “to organize the world’s information and

make it universally accessible and useful” (About Google). Google continually releases new

products and apps that are available and usable by everyone to help make everyday life better.

Some of these products include: Google Docs, Google Finance, Gmail, Google Photos,

Messages, Google Search, Google Translate, Youtube, and much more (About Google). These

products have changed how people work, research, and even learn. Anyone is able to search

something up on Google to find an answer in seconds. Today people use Google products to

change their own lives and community. For example, a group of people in Mexico used Google

Maps to identify the damage immediately after an unpredicted earthquake to quicken recovery

and record information for future emergencies. Another man used Google Earth to discover
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over a million cache of ancient Saxon coins. Another woman in Africa created a media center to

give women in her community access to the internet. Using Google, some are able to record

their own album; some are able to find a scholarship; some are able to learn a new skill like

how to fix a car engine (About Google). The possibilities now available to these women are

endless.

However, many become concerned with how dependent we are on this one company.

Even after twenty years, Google is still the top used search engine (Naughton). Google is relied

upon so much that people use it in a common phrase: "Google it." Today, Google is a verb in

the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Many people have become reliant on Google to search up a

random question or thought at any moment in the day and then have it decide what is most

relevant to what they are looking for individually. Google products consistently supply

suggestions on what we want to watch, where we want to go, what we want to read, what we

want to see, what we want to reply. These suggestions “‘remove...the very need to think and

make decisions for ourselves’” (Naughton). Most people don’t stop to question what is

popping up or the credibility of what Google shows them, so they let Google guide their

thoughts, believing ads and false information.

As people believe everything Google gives them, they fall into the trap of personalized

results and social engineering without even knowing it. Google's search results are based off

websites that seem to relate to the topic of search and individual personal preferences it

observes, which in some cases is super helpful; however, this can be detrimental because many

take all of Google's results as truth without questioning: “[a]nd because people’s search

queries can sometimes be very revealing, the company knows more about people’s innermost
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secrets, fears and fantasies than even their friends or partners” (Naughton). This gives one

corporation endless data on each individual that uses its products, no matter which one. More

people are becoming concerned with their privacy, but many are willing to pay the price of lack

of privacy in order to use Google’s products. Also, “[m]ore than 50 percent of people can't

differentiate between an ad...and an organic result on Google,” causing Google users to often

be led to a certain belief (Berlinquette). Through a form of social engineering, anyone can

create a redirect ad on Google and through a Google blueprint. These ads will pop up at the

top of people's particle searches. This allows the marketer to choose their target audience and

show this ad to that particular audience; furthermore, this allows any single person to choose

what you see pop up from your searches, and then what you see and read (Berlinquette). Most

will believe what they see and read. So, anybody is able to change the views that people have

through Google. While this can be beneficial, like to reduce terroism or suicide, many have the

chance to change your beliefs for the worst.

Google has become an “indispensable” part of everyday life for most due to its

relevance and speed to find the information you are looking for; however, Google and

marketers are able to use this constantly looked at search engine and products to change the

views of a person, whether for good or bad (Naughton). Due to this, it is important to use the

endless possibilities of Google defensively and purposely. John Culkin once said, “We shape our

tools and then our tools shape us” (Naughton). If one company is able to change how we think

and what we believe, who else do we give this power to?

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Works Cited

About Google. Google, https://about.google/ Accessed 6 Dec. 2019.

Berlinquette, Patrick. "I used Google Ads for Social Engineering." New York Times, 08 Jul 2019.

sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/

document/2309991886?accountid=375. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.

Naughton, John. "What's the Biggest Influence on the Way We Think? (Googling It Won't

Help)." The Guardian, 9 Sept. 2018, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/20

18/sep/09/google-biggest-influence-on-way-we-think. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.