Chris Nolan raised some interesting points about the structure of Google's database and how it makes money as a monopolistic firm in the market. Statistics show that Google is the most popular search engine today, and is used by over 66% of all U.S citizens. Not surprisingly, over 90% of all of Google's revenue is from advertising. There is some controversy around this idea because Google is so widely used. Although Google claims they do not alter searches based on advertising (i.e. type in a search and get first page of results), there are a lot of things that slip through the cracks. Google tries to prevent spam but because the database is so large, there is a lot more room for firms to manipulate the database.
How It Works
Ever wonder how search results come up? The mechanisms used to find information are very complex and highly technical. Strategic algorithms, page quality and "web crawling" are all used to compute a result from the search engine. Web crawling defines how sites have links from page to page. There is also an invisible algorithm that is being developed on social networks as well as Google. For example, the more information you provide on these various networks, the more they tailor to your interests. All of these mechanisms work together to produce a result from your search. Ranking algorithms are evolving every day. Today, there is an occupation called search engine optimization (SEO), where firms try and research the best ways to advertise a product based on search results in Google.
NEW TERMS
"internet junk food" defines pop culture information that floods websites and is fun to read (usually false information)
"information bubble" is defined as the bubble that social networks and other internet filters place around you based on your personal interests and frequent searches
Next time you type a search, ask yourself: is internet is telling you what it wants you to see? Or are you telling it what you want to see?
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