Can Google Stay on Top of the Web?, By Robert D. Hof , Business Week (Oct 1)
Google does have competition - Bing, Twitter, social search, real time search - but it have hundreds of engineers and scientists studying search to find better ways. This article shows that it won't be toppled from top position soon.
Also has a slide show to Google's 20 Hottest Tools. Starts off with the latest, Sidewiki for commenting on web sites, Fast Flip for looking at news pages, and Wave for full collaboration.
Lastly, refers to Secret of Googlenomics: Data-Fueled Recipe Brews Profitability by Steven Levy, Wired (May 22, 2009)
Google made nearly $22 billion in revenue on 2008 from its search advertising system. This is a giant economy it itself with macro and micro economic aspects.
"The macroeconomic side involves some of the company's seemingly altruistic behavior, which often baffles observers. Why does Google give away products like its browser, its apps, and the Android operating system for mobile phones? Anything that increases Internet use ultimately enriches Google, Varian says. And since using the Web without using Google is like dining at In-N-Out without ordering a hamburger, more eyeballs on the Web lead inexorably to more ad sales for Google.
The microeconomics of Google is more complicated. Selling ads doesn't generate only profits; it also generates torrents of data about users' tastes and habits, data that Google then sifts and processes in order to predict future consumer behavior, find ways to improve its products, and sell more ads. This is the heart and soul of Googlenomics. It's a system of constant self-analysis: a data-fueled feedback loop that defines not only Google's future but the future of anyone who does business online."
Posted by Gwen at October 3, 2009 02:30 AM