Google Search turned 14 last week with a slice of digital cake and a new feature on its map app. The online juggernaut has a lot to celebrate in relation to its brief market-life. Able to check off becoming one of the richest and most successful tech companies in the history of business off of its bucket list after less than two decades since its incorporation, what is the king of search planning next?
In the time it would take to raise a teenager with a mouth full of braces, Google Search has solely managed to change the face of Internet culture. The global use of the popular phrase “Google it” is just one of the indications that the company’s business model has gone beyond merely being successful.
For many, Google’s search engine site has become their doctor, adviser, map, and general knowledge-holder. Initially called “Backrub,” the developers of the Stanford web project turned multi-billion corporation can be glad they changed its name to a word that has officially become a verb in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Taking on the role of influencer in the 21st century, Google Search continues to rapidly turn out innovative products that are changing the way individuals do business. Besides being able to flick through an endless ream of any image subjects that suits our fancy, people use Google for the latest international and local news, they use it search their business competitors, settle bar debts, plot driving routes and check their email – they even use it to self-diagnose their aches and pains.
Besides celebrating its 14th birthday with a slice Google Doodle cake, the search provider’s big day also coincides with its 25th billionth download on the Google Play app store. Looking at the bright-eyed optimism of founders, Page and Brin, back in the day, it is difficult to believe that these two college graduates developed one of the biggest, and most-widely used Internet technologies of our time. Google’s net-worth currently sits at $246 billion, not far behind Microsoft’s $252 billion – not bad for a decade-old business.
Employing more than 50,000 people at the start of 2012, Google Search can boast a surprising number of quirky innovations too. Launching an underwater version of Google Maps most recently, the brand is also responsible for mapping Mars inch-by-inch, creating a model of a self-driving car, and launching Project Glass – their HUD digital glasses.
What Next?
Building a comprehensive world of information for this age of rapid consumerism, Google Search is a force to be reckoned with. A tech-teenager that has a sense of solidarity with its users that has been compared to the sway of a dictator, the brand still has a lot to prove – and the time to do so.
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- CC Image Flickr – Some Rights Reserved
Bella Gray is a corporate blogger based in New York office space. Keeping her eye on the brand space, as well as the latest technology news and innovations, Gray the perfect go-to-gal for the latest scoop on the happenings of the world wide web.