i had never really stepped back and pondered before WHY i use google and no other search engine. I do really like the whole Google banner theme thing but I’ve never really thought about WHAT i like about it or really WHY. i think i appreciate it because it reaches out to humans on a level of playfulness/fun/humor in an organized, serious environment. It “shows that they care” even though I know they really only care about money and no people, but I’m ok with the sham because it does deceive me nicely. life is so serious nowadays and the fun extras make life more bearable and interesting. i guess its kind of like the people who go all out decorating for Christmas and the lame neighbors who dont even hang up a single wreath. There is no real purpose to decorations except to be festive and participatory in the fun aspects of our culture. you just appreciate those who get into the holiday spirit. the whole realm of marketing and advertising is really interesting to me and it is thought provoking to think of google’s “ploy” here as one.
February 14th, 2008
Posted by
Anika in
New Media Studies (Memex to Youtube)
One Response to ' google '
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on February 16th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I think what you just said is partly why Google is so popular, but I think that there’s more to it than deception and festivities. First off, and I’d say most importantly, most people use Google over other search engines because the page loads within seconds! Remember, a great majority of Americans still are on dial-up. For them, the faster a search engine loads, the better. I don’t have dial-up, so I can’t say this for sure, but I bet Yahoo’s main page takes FOREVER to load with all those graphics and links oversaturating the page.
The second reason why Google is so popular goes along with the point I made about the oversaturation of stuff on Yahoo. Yahoo is supposed to be a search engine, but I use it for my email and to keep up with the times with some of the news articles it posts on the front page. Yahoo’s focus seems less on searching and more on other miscellaneous things (music, stocks, etc.). Google, on the other hand, is a plain white background with the search box right in the middle of the screen. It’s so simple.