The internet, a subsidiary of Google Inc.

This blog is brought to you by Google. If I posted a video, it would probably be on YouTube which is owned by Google. If I ever wanted to find a blog about cooking (fat chance) I would Google it. You might even be browsing this very page on Google Chrome. Google has acquired over 100 companies in it's history. In fact, out of the top 5 webpages on internet Google owns 3. The 2nd on the list is Facebook, which Google does not own, but then again with Google+ looking like a serious competitor. Who knows if in the near future we'll be posting to 'circles' not 'walls'.

The top 5 websites

When people talk about the internet being 'open' and allowing people and organisations to make connections in new and exciting ways, is this hurt because so much of the conversations are flowing through Google servers? Does this stifle innovation? Generally speaking when markets are full of lots of players in heated competition, better innovation generally results. If you had a great idea for a new social service or a great way to search - chances are you'd just be crushed by the Google machine.

This isn't to say Google can't innovate, it's almost lucky that Google has innovated and dominated in equal measure. But can an organisations reach be too much? Especially if they own such a large portion of the social media space.

Google's informal motto is "don't be evil", and while a dystopian world controlled by Google is quite unlikely, maybe we should think more about who owns and thereby technically controls our online interactions.

For a list of the top 500 websites on the internet visit:
http://www.alexa.com/topsites

Thoughts?