Top 10 reasons why Google is truly an All-American company

(It’s as American as it can get, read on…):

1. Its young. And so are we. Haven’t you ever gone to Europe and been amazed at the buildings that have been there for hundreds of thousands of years when our oldest building is a woman with a crown, a book, and a flame? Which possibly isn’t even our oldest building, which leads me to my next point:
2. Google is cocky and thinks it knows everything, just like us. It’s convinced that it knows what type of ads we want and need and specially targets and matches them to what we’re interested in. The scary part is that they’re often right too. They serve me up ads about salsa dancing and The Office all the time, and sure enough, that’s precisely what I’m interested in. Remind you of any other entity who claims to be all-knowing and omnipotent? Maybe a certain America who’s convinced it knows exactly what’s best for other people in other parts of the world whose culture and reality is so different than ours its not even funny? Just a thought.
3. Reason three- it’s both copied and a copycat. Everyone tries to emulate what Google and America do, whether its AOL trying to be more Google-esque or little Japanese high schoolers knowing every word to Snoop’s ‘Sensual Seduction’. On the flip side though, both entities know when to copy others. Google wasn’t the first search engine. America wasn’t the first country to speak English and be mean to other people and colonize and displace them. The reason they’re both so successful though is because they do it best. Nobody does it better. Which takes smarts, hence reason numero cuatro.
4. Google is multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-everything. Whatever you want to know can be explained to you in Spanish, French, Norwegian, Arabic, etc. Google’s diverse, with the co.uk, the Google France, and the Google.es for the Espanish espeakers. It’s a bonafide Melting Pot, just like some other place I know…
5. Google was created by people branching off from where they came. They had an idea and went with it. And the rest is history. Just like the land of the red, white and blue.
6. Google is Big Brother-ish. Actually maybe it’s not even ‘ish’, maybe it actually is just Big Brother. It collects personal data about you and stores it for future use and whenever it needs it. And America, well, we know what we do. We have secret societies like the CIA who have the power to put their hand in anything and do whatever they want in the name of ‘democracy’, but shhhhh, it’s all very hush-hush. Just like what Google Earth is doing. I mean, who knows really?
7. Google expands rapidly, buying businesses like YouTube left and right, just like us when we ‘buy’ and take over little places like Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. We do what we want. It’s the big fish eating the little fish. Survival of the fittest. Nothing personal, just business.
8. Under the guise of ‘just business’, we both actually are extremely cutthroat and hardworking. Neither one of us are slackers, that’s for sure. We work very hard. Sure, Google will let you sit on exercise balls and serve you free lunch every day, but did you ever stop to think that they might be doing that so you eat your lunch at your desk and take 15 minutes instead of an hour and a half? Not that bad of a ROI when you look at it that way. And we Americans work hard too. I always hear of these Europeans taking a month off every year and siestas and what not, but none of that for us. The 40 hour work week is soon becoming a thing of the past from what I hear.
9. Google is where people strive to be. It’s at the top of the world. Not too shabby of a place to be, huh? At the same time however, they’re constantly underdogs like China and India trying to bring something new to the table and beat it at its own game. Just like SEO companies beating the Google system. And when you come across a savvy white-hat SEO companies out there, watch out.
10. Since most of the previous reasons could be construed as slightly negative, let’s say something positive about the two, shall we? They’re both fun. And innovative. And cutting edge. Not to mention pretty amazing and incredible. Even though I only pledge allegiance to one (for now). Thanks, Brooke

Up To Speed with the Internet Giants

Up To Speed with the Internet Giants

By Greg Schwartz 

While lazing and watching TV this weekend I came across an amazing documentary that helped shed some light on perhaps the most revolutionary technology to ever exist; the Internet.  The documentary, entitled “Download:
The True Story of the Internet”, explained the behind the scenes story of the visionaries who built this new world that has radically changed our lives, technologically, culturally, commercially, and socially. 

Almost all of their tales began at Stanford, where these twenty something year old founders of Yahoo, eXcite, Amazon, and Google brought fresh ideas to the table….ideas that would turn the entire infrastructure of business on its head, and return the historical powerhouse corporations to infancy in competing for the hottest eReal-Estate. 

The movie did a great job of explaining how Google became a fixture in the ecommerce world, showing how their algorithms wisely took links into consideration when determining website importance.  The film also hinted at new methods of viral marketing that would allow companies to rise in the ranks by creating a social buzz.  I highly recommend the movie to anyone looking to get up to speed with the new e-world.  Here is a schedule of when the documentary is on tv again.  

So now we stand in an interesting place.  Technology is changing so rapidly that there aren’t any constants anymore.  It’s reached the point that in order for businesses to remain competitive, they are almost required to stay on top of emerging technological trends.  Soon not having a Social Media campaign will be like having refused to create a website ten years ago, swearing that it is just a passing trend and a waste of marketing dollars.   But it remains nearly impossible for a company juggling a hundred tasks to stay current with all the latest jargon and trends. 

That’s one of the reasons I am happy to work for a firm that does all that work for companies, and enables them to stay on top of e-commerce no matter which way the wind blows that week.  It’s the ultimate learning experience to be able to pick the brains of the ChaosMap techies, people who were actually there working for the Internet Giants and know that world like the back of their hands.  I’m getting nerdier by the day…..and I like it.