Google's motto is 'Don't be evil'. It was coined, in part, as a criticism of their competitors but has now become central to their code of conduct
and how they operate as a business. Google is also now a massive online presence in terms of their market share and influence. This raises two issues of the same coin, one that relates to 'Don't be evil' and the other on public participation. To begin, Google has a 65% share of the US search market, with an average of 9 billion searches placed every month, compared to 20% for its nearest rival Yahoo! In the UK, Google's percentage of the market has been placed at a staggering 90%.[1] This is worrying if you consider that Google makes money from advertising that is targeted specifically to your individual searches. Google not only retains your searches but the web pages you viewed, the time, date and where you searched from as well. This worry is compounded by other services Google provides such as Google Earth and Google Street View where users can access any place in the world via satellites, and thanks to the Google cars that have photographed many town and city streets. This has caused much criticism relating to invasion of privacy and data protection. One critic has moved to set up an alternative named Scroogle, which uses the Google search engine but erases your record of searches and data.
The other side of the coin of Google's growth and influence are the uses it can play for public participation. It is easy to think of Google as a unique company that has seemingly come out of nowhere to become a giant. Whereas this is partly true Google was, in fact, only founded 3 years after Yahoo! and 2 years after Ask.com. During the dot-com bubble Yahoo! ruled the roost with shares at one time being worth $118 each. They, along with any other search engine, now fall sharply in Google's shadow. So what makes Google so special? The answer lies in what they can do for public participation. Google's mission statement is, "to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful".[2] In trying to achieve this they are helping change the way the internet operates by creating various platforms for people to access information. Firstly, their search engine is unique in that it returns web pages that contain the most links to other relevant sites. Secondly, their other platforms are innovative and collaborative; along with Google Earth and Street View other examples include: Online Books, Maps, Images, and Videos via Google Video or YouTube. Google Labs is a platform which was designed to specifically let users experiment and provide feedback on prototypes that engineers and researchers are working on. Finally, Google have a site that bring these platforms together to assist people with getting involved in engagement at google.com/publicsector
These techniques could be put to use in helping greater participation in democracy and government. It has been suggested that government could work as a similar platform that is easily accessible, searchable and linkable. If government (or 'Government 2.0' as it is termed) took Google's lead by giving citizens the tools to work with, by opening up to greater experimentation, admitting mistakes and placing itself on a more equal footing with citizens it would be more democratic and more beneficial for all. It is an approach that is being seen more widely (the most recent being apps.gov) in government and, despite the initial criticisms of Google's methods, is well worth exploration.
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[1] New Statesman, Is Google Evil?, August 2009 Edition
[2] http://www.google.com/corporate/
