1 Followed by 100 Zeros A Monthlong Magnification of Google

You use “Google” as a verb, you’re more than familiar with YouTube and, on more than one occasion, Google Maps have been your compass. You know all about Google, right? Well, Google is really much more than search and social—and it’s the “more” that is the interesting and revealing part about Google.

Let’s get this out of the way first. I respect Google. I use Google who-knows how many times a day. In fact, if Google had not been created in a Stanford dorm room in 1996, it’s unlikely that the online marketing industry as-we-know-it would even exist, and less likely I would be pulling a paycheck for my work within it.

That said, I readily admit that Google scares me. The company has worked tirelessly to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”¹ In doing so, Google itself has become a collector of information on a vast scale. This information collection includes data about the people who use Google and how they consume Google-supplied search results.

Throughout the month of April (or as long as we can keep it going) some of the writers here at StraightUpSearch will be looking more closely at Google: the company, the technologies, and the extracurricular activities.

With these blog posts we have no intention of tooting the conspiracy theorist’s horn. It’s more of a dusting off of the ol’ magnifying glass so we can get a clearer and closer look at a company that the entire world is trusting to work graciously with our building blocks – our basic information.

The Google name is derived from “Googol,” a mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros.¹ With this in mind, let’s see what the zeros add up to.

¹ Google Corporate Information, Company Overview.