February 2, 2009

Google Glitch and Human Nature

By now, you may have had a good laugh at the “human error” that happened in front of the world over the weekend or as it's affectionately called - The Google Glitch. Their explanation here

Hmmm That's Weird

If you were online Sunday 9:30-10:30am and used the search engine at all, you noticed that under every result was an additional note: this site may harm your computer.

If you were like me, you thought something was wrong with YOUR computer. But the story is that something got messed up a piece of code which caused everyone on the planet to get this warning with every search result around the world for an hour.

Imagine The Power

To most, Goggle is a space where they begin their online journey. But as you probably know, that is just the beginning of the Google Empire.

Search engine marketing and affiliate marketing are multi-billion industries. Some of the world’s largest corporations use Google Analytics to research customer behavior. There is Google Maps, Google Reader, Google Earth, and tons more.

No Sales Person Will Call

No one from Google will call your house for money or hound you for additional services; that is all done behind the scenes. The furniture store that comes up on the first page of your search isn’t there by accident. The furniture store is likely paying for that “rack space”. When was the last time you sifted through twenty pages in a search result?

This could have been a much more serious issue. At the most basic level, it shows our blind trust that stuff will just work for us every time. It is also a reflection of the trust we give others with our personal information.

Companies Are Human Too

No one enjoys mistakes, we all make them, often. But don't beat yourself up too much. The people running one of the largest companies in the world make them too.

km

 
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