HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY TO GOOGLE!

Hard to believe it’s been 14 years since the inception of everyone’s favorite search engine.  Happy Birthday, Google!    

There are very few of us on the planet who have not, at one time or another – or every day, for that matter – used Google to find information, to get driving directions or to self-diagnose by plugging in our symptoms (my doctor just loves it when I do that!).  Personally speaking, I’d be lying if I said that Google isn’t a part of my everyday life.  We use it at home, we use it at work – we even use it as a verb!  Want to know about something – just ‘Google’ it!

Think for a moment how much easier life is with Google in it.  Want to see movie listings?  You no longer have to run out and buy a newspaper.  Want a recipe for German chocolate cake?  Look no further than your keyboard.  Want to translate a paragraph quickly from English to French?  Google Translate is arguably one of the coolest things on the planet!  Heck, I once received a comment on one of my blogs in Russian and, of course, had no idea what it said until I – yup, Google Translated it (now I’m making up my own verbs).

This morning, I Googled Google to research some background information.  Here’s what I found out:

 - From Wikipedia: 

“The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while both attended Stanford University. Together, Brin and Page own about 16 percent of the company's stake. Google was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, and its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. The company's mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" and the company's unofficial slogan is “Don’t be evil”.  In 2006, the company moved to its current headquarters in Mountain View, California.”

And, did you know that Page and Brin named their project “Google” because Google is a play on the word "googol," or the "mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros”?   Cool stuff!

So, how are the Google team celebrating the 14^th birthday of their phenomenon?  From Google’s Official Blog:

“As Google turns 14 this month, we’re celebrating this creative spirit and officially launching Google for Entrepreneurs, the umbrella for our several dozen programs and partnerships around the world that support startups and entrepreneurs.” 

All the best, guys!  And, Happy Birthday to you, Google!!

Sometimes, When I'm All Alone, I Google Myself

Ego-surfing, or searching your name using Google or another search engine, is a common practice among most Internet users. Ego-surfing, however, is not always an egotistical action. Both individuals and companies do this as a means of monitoring online conversations about themselves or their company. This is an excellent way to receive valuable feedback that you may have otherwise been unaware of. It is especially important that job hunters be aware of their Internet presence as well as the presence of those sharing their name as employers can use your online presence to make an employment decision.

In this blog entry we will mainly discuss blogs and websites with and without RSS feeds.

First, blogs and websites with RSS feeds. RSS feeds make it extremely easy to monitor reactions about your blog because you can choose to be notified automatically whenever there is any mention of your or the company name. You can do this by typing your name in any blog search engine (i.e. Google) and subscribe to your news reader's search results feed.

With regard to websites without RSS feeds, the only way to track your name is to go through Google web search. Unlike the blog search, you can't sort results by date and no RSS feeds will turn up in the search results. Fortunately, there is a method to automating this daily routine:

1. Go to Google Advanced Search and select "past 24 hours" in the date field. This is to filter out all posts from more than 24 hours ago.

2. Type your name enclosed in quotation marks in the search box. Also include any common misspellings separated using the OR operator.

3. Copy the Google URL in the address bar and paste that into the search box at Page2RSS.com. This will create a RSS feed of your search results that you can subscribe via email or any news reader.

Doing this will ensure that anything mentioning your name will be sent to your inbox or RSS reader, helping you to effectively and efficiently keep tabs on conversations surrounding you and your business.

Web sources:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/search/googling-yourself-or-ego-surfing-with-google/1861/
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/ethics/1017964102.php