In search of the meaning of Googleism

The World Wide Web has brought a new level of enlightenment to modern society - thanks in part to the ubiquitous search engine Google. Whether you're talking rubbish at a dinner party or merely sitting around on Friday afternoon with too much idle time on your hands, the Net can open new avenues of knowledge and insight with just a few keystrokes and mouse-clicks.

This all-knowing omipresence has seen the emergence of "Googleism". But like any great human movement, the concept is splitting into different factions Did you mean Googlism?. A colleague recently forwarded me some links on this topic and as I relaxed for a few moments from my recent labours on Opera II and Excel, I thought I would look into the subject in more depth. John Stokdyk reports

Some enthusiasts have embraced Google to such an extent that they have founded the Church of Google, where they explain: "We reject supernatural gods on the notion they are not scientifically provable. Thus, Googlists believe Google should rightfully be given the title of "God", as She exhibits a great many of the characteristics traditionally associated with such Deities in a scientifically provable manner."

These assertions are supported by nine proofs, including a comparison on Google trends of the search volumes for "Google", which outscores "God", "Jesus", "Allah", "Buddha", "Christianity", "Islam", "Buddhism" and "Judaism" combined.

"God is thought to be an entity in which we mortals can turn to when in a time of need. Google clearly fulfils this to a much larger degree than traditional "gods", concludes the church, which celebrates Google Appreciation Day 14 of September, the date on which the domain Google.com was first registered.

The elevation of Google to a quasi-religion does not amuse everyone, so the church helpfully posts a collection of complaint emails. "If," writes Graham, "the God of the bible is real, then you are really looking for trouble, and I pray that you will be saved so that your eternity is not one of torment and suffering, and that God be glorified through your conversion."

A rival and less controversial site, Googlism.com, is more straightforward in its homage to the great search engine. The site was created as a "fun tool to see what Google 'thinks' of certain topics and people" and trawls search results to present a summary profile of the victim. A search on "AccountingWEB", for example, reveals:

AccountingWEB is the oldest and most successful online community of accountants

AccountingWEB is the winner of the New Media Age 2001 "best media business website" award

AccountingWEB is well aware of the affinity of our members for Excel and other MS Office applications.

But, lo! There is yet another strand of Googleism, one propounded in part by Swedish search optimisation nerd Nikke Lindqvist, to reflect what he and many other webmasters spend so much of their time thinking about - how their sites are ranked on Google and other search engines.

This is a good site to visit if you have any passing interest in search engine optimisation, as it focuses with theological intensity on efforts to deal with the original "Google bomb" in which the search string "miserable failure" brings up George W Bush's CV as the top result. Another thread notes the increasing sensitivity of Google's brand managers to protect the trademark by trying to force other sites to remove definitions of the verb to "google" as a term for internet searching.

One link leads to an email from a Google trademark lawyer who explains: "Our brand is very important to us, and as I'm sure you'll understand, we want to make sure that when people use "Google," they are referring to the services ourcompany provides and not to internet searching in general."

Should you want to take this further, you know where go next... Hours of pointless trivia-hunting are guaranteed.

Source: www.accountingweb.co.uk