Top 5 Common Misconceptions About Google, Inc.

When it comes to the online world, Google stands at the top. In the United States, Google commands an impressive 70 to 75 percent of the search engine market [source: Garner]. In regions such as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and South America, its market share exceeds 90 percent [source: Google Operating System].

Google's dominance in the search engine industry is so vast that its name has become synonymous with online searching. How many companies (other than Xerox, of course) have earned the distinction of being included as a verb in Merriam-Webster's dictionary?

Here’s a list of the top 5 myths about Google, Inc., presented in no particular order. If any of these rumors seem too strange to be true, don’t just take our word for it. Google it.

5: Google Doesn’t Earn Any Revenue

Google provides an overwhelming array of online services. These include its iconic search engine, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google News, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Calendar, to name just a few. Additionally, popular Google-owned websites like YouTube, Picasa, and Blogger are included. All these services come at no cost.

So, how does Google make money? Does it even generate revenue? Since its inception, a long-standing myth has circulated claiming that the company has no business model and therefore doesn’t profit. This is a major misconception.

In 2008, Google generated nearly $22 billion [source: Google]. A staggering 97% of its revenue came from advertising. How did they achieve this? Google created two highly successful advertising platforms: Google AdWords and Google AdSense.

AdWords are the ads that show up during Google searches, placed above and alongside the main search results. These ads are marked as "Sponsored Links." Advertisers can use AdWords to create concise text ads and link them to specific keywords. Google then applies sophisticated algorithms to display the most relevant ads based on a given search query.

Advertisers don’t pay Google each time their ad is displayed. They only pay when someone clicks on their ad. Click-through costs can be as low as 10 cents, making it a manageable investment for advertisers. For Google, however, those small amounts quickly accumulate.

AdSense functions in a similar manner, but the text ads appear on non-Google websites. If you own a website and want to make some extra money from ads, you can register with AdSense. Google’s algorithms display relevant ads to your site’s visitors. Whenever someone clicks on an ad, the advertiser pays Google anywhere from 10 cents to $20, depending on the popularity of the keyword. Google then shares a portion of that payment with you, the website owner.

It’s important to remember that not all of that revenue is pure profit: After a year of financial losses and economic turmoil, Google posted a profit of $4 billion in 2008. However, during the last quarter of 2008, the company experienced its first-ever decline in quarterly profits [source: Liedtke].

4: Google Is Making You Less Intelligent

What’s the capital of Uruguay? Who was the first female astronaut at NASA? What is Newton’s Second Law of Motion? Oh, that’s simple! Google. Google. Google.

Believe it or not, there was a time when the expectation was that you would actually remember and critically think about those dates, facts, and other forgettable bits of information you learned in high school. Now, instead of relying on long-term memory and intelligence, we have a search engine.

This concept brings up an interesting question: Does Google truly make us less intelligent, or have we, as a society, simply redefined what it means to be "smart?"

An article in The Atlantic Monthly highlights that technology has been blamed for our supposed decline in intelligence since the very beginning. Socrates lamented the invention of writing, arguing it would make humans forgetful [source: Carr]. The advent of the printing press also faced criticism for spreading knowledge too widely, which some feared would undermine religious faith.

The Internet has its fair share of critics. Research indicates that the Internet has led to noticeable changes in how we process information [source: Rich]. In the digital world, practices like skimming, hopping between links, and other non-linear reading have become more prevalent than reading through long blocks of text, as we would in a book or magazine. Critics argue that our growing reluctance to engage with longer texts makes it harder for us to think critically about a topic [source: Carr].

Proponents of the Internet offer a different perspective: Google has made us much smarter by providing instant access to the world’s collective knowledge [source: Grier]. They argue that Google is a modern solution to an outdated and inefficient library system [source: Polaine]. With Google, we can quickly gather up-to-the-minute data from a vast range of sources.

In other words: Yes, we skim, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a bad thing.

3: Google Knows Everything About You

Deep within the heart of a climate-controlled, neon-glowing server farm in an anonymous Google data center in an undisclosed Arkansas industrial park, vast amounts of data are stored. This data creates an unnervingly accurate profile of who you are, where you reside, and what you prefer to watch on YouTube. Sounds a little chilling, doesn’t it?

It’s no exaggeration: Google keeps search queries linked to your Internet Protocol (IP) address for up to nine months [source: Privacy Rights Clearinghouse]. It scans web emails for keywords using specialized software. With its new service, Latitude, your friends (and Google) always know your location. Even YouTube seems to suggest videos you’re bound to watch. Creepy, right?

Of course, if Google holds this much information, it must be using it for dark purposes, right? Not exactly: Google’s representatives explain that none of the data it collects is personally identifiable. For example, your search queries aren’t directly tied to you but rather are associated with your computer’s IP address. An IP address provides only a vague idea of location, not your identity.

No Google employee is permitted to associate IP addresses with individual identities. In fact, Google has refused several U.S. government requests to provide search histories for investigations [source: Boggan].

Arguably the most insidious use of Google’s data is its ability to serve up personalized online ads based on your search history and email keywords. Privacy advocates raise concerns, arguing that no company should have access to this much information. They worry it could fall into the wrong hands, be used inappropriately, or that Google might ultimately give in to a government subpoena. What if Google suddenly needs to make a quick profit? What's stopping the company from selling our data to the highest bidder?

According to Google, the answer lies in their corporate philosophy number six: 'You can make money without doing evil' [source: Google].

2: Google Earth Is Spying On You

There’s something eerily Orwellian about Google Earth. Type in your home address and the camera drops down from the sky, providing a crystal-clear aerial view of your house. Zoom in closer and you can spot the pink rhododendron in your yard and your car parked in the driveway.

You almost expect to zoom into your living room window and catch a glimpse of yourself sitting at your computer. Don't forget to wave at the camera!

The myth surrounding Google Earth is that it’s a live, all-seeing surveillance camera. The reality is that each image you view on Google Earth is actually a composite that’s one to three years old [source: Google Earth]. These images come from satellite and aerial sources like DigitalGlobe and Tele Atlas, as well as government and military agencies.

So while it is possible to be spotted on Google Earth, the odds of it happening are extremely slim and would require an incredible stroke of luck.

The 'Street View' feature in Google Maps has also faced criticism from privacy advocates, who argue that it acts as a covert surveillance tool. However, the truth is that the images are only updated every few years. Additionally, Google has created an algorithm to blur faces, helping to protect the identities of people who are unintentionally caught on camera [source: Rosenblatt].

1: Google Wants to Own the Internet

Whenever Google acquires something – such as YouTube – it typically makes headlines. That's why the company's quiet acquisition of vast stretches of dark fiber has captured the curiosity of industry experts.

Dark fiber refers to high-speed fiber-optic cables that have yet to be activated. Industry insiders claim that Google owns more dark fiber than any other entity on the planet [source: Cringely].

What could Google possibly do with all this unused fiber? The short answer: It could take control of the Internet.

This is the ominous scenario envisioned by tech journalist Robert X. Cringely. As more and more people rely on the Internet to stream movies, TV shows, music, and other content, Internet service providers (ISPs) will struggle to keep up with the growing demand for bandwidth. Meanwhile, Google could leverage its dark fiber to create a faster and more efficient version of the Internet. When ISPs hit their limits, they'll have no choice but to route all traffic through Google's network.

"We won't know if we're accessing the Internet or Google, and for all intents and purposes, it won't matter," Cringely wrote in 2007. "Google will become our phone company, our cable provider, our stereo system, and our digital video recorder" [source: Cringely].

Google officials offer a more practical reason for acquiring dark fiber. Their aim is simply to connect their data centers across the world more effectively.

Google also collaborates with telecom giants like AT&T to lease bandwidth on their national networks. In order to make these partnerships work, Google needs to route a significant portion of its traffic to designated remote "peering" points [source: Sullivan]. This necessitates a considerable amount of additional fiber optic infrastructure.

"When you see an article in the New York Times about AT&T acquiring more fiber, their stock price rises," said Google's Chris Sacca in 2006. "Then, there's a similar article about Google purchasing fiber, and people start thinking 'Google is trying to dominate the world.' But that's not the case – at least not right now."

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