The Media Column by Paul Bradshaw

I GOOGLE, WE GOOGLE, YOU GOOGLE

19-08-2006

Google are treading on so many toes at the moment that it's only a matter of time before they add Google Foot Surgeon to the likes of Google Video, Google Scholar and Google News.

Their latest piece of footwork - according to The Independent anyway is to warn organisations not to use the verb ‘to google' without the uppercase G.

ZDNet's brief report on the move notes that, “Although I'm sure it's not all upside, it seems like a gift-horse to have your brand name be synonymous with searching the Net.”

Likewise, The Independent mentions bloggers "making fun of the examples Google's lawyers deem acceptable. They included: "Appropriate: I ran a Google search to check out that guy from the party. Inappropriate: I googled that hottie.""

Now googling - sorry, Googling - is part of web culture these days. Many women, when meeting a prospective partner, will use Google to find out if the seemingly perfect man has actually recently sold a collection of porn on eBay. And many successful businesspeople can be found whiling away lunchtimes googling - sorry, Googling - their former bullies to see if they really do have the sad adult life they always seemed destined for. I've googled - sorry, Googled - potential employers to see if there are grumblings from their staff.

And I've googled myself (Frankie Howerd, where are you when we need you?) only to find I'm competing for Google ranking with a preacher, a horror writer, and a 1970s Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper - strangely enough, the sort of company I keep of a weekend.

Google's big feet have also been wandering around the land of publishing. Here the company's plans to scan and digitalise the world's books have caused concern that they are acting illegally, and stealing revenue from the publishers' fast-drying mouths.

An article in the Washington Post covers the issue at length. "Google would like the world to see this as a purely altruistic act on its part," says [the Association of American Publisher's Allan] Adler.

Instead, he argues, searchable books are part of the company's "very brilliant economic strategy" for differentiating itself from competitive search engines. If you're worried that Yahoo, Microsoft or some unknown startup will scoop up lucrative market share, adding books to your database helps you stay ahead."

Of course it's natural that people should want to knock a technology giant that has grown to the size of Microsoft in less than a decade. Ex-Google staff blog Xooglers comments : “with Google's “Don't be evil” motto hanging on its back like a “kick me” sign, the company got cut very little slack.”

But then, with power comes responsibility, and having a small motto isn't enough to ensure you don't get big feet.