12 Years On: 10 IT Lessons Google Has Taught Us

Google is now 12 years old. And over the past dozen years, the search engine company has grown from a small startup with big hopes to the company that has single-handedly changed every facet of the technology industry. Whether it’s online or in the software space, Google has found a way to carve out a significant portion of the market.

But that doesn’t mean that everything Google has done or accomplished over the past 12 years has been good for users. In fact, a valid argument can be made that Google’s desire to not be “evil” has backfired over the past few years. And in some ways, the company has lost its way.

Simply put, Google’s story thus far is one of both good and bad.

Here is a look at what the IT market has learned from the Google over the past 12 years.

1. Search really can work

When Google first got into the search business, the space was different from how it is right now. It was dominated by a few firms that understood what needed to be done when searching the web, but they didn’t have a good idea of how to implement it. Google changed all that. And Google showed that by relying upon the web community and coming up with unique ideas, there is a way to make it big in search.

2. Web-based advertising is the future

When Google decided to use advertising to build its business, the company showed the rest of the market that web-based advertising is both the present and the future. Nowadays, companies are investing in online ads at a more frequent pace than ever before. And they have Google to thank for it.

3. Companies can do more than one thing

For a while, web-based companies seemed to believe that if they did one thing right, they would be just fine. eBay did auctions and Amazon did online retail, but Google has shown that online firms can do all kinds of things and be successful. The company has gone from search to advertising to cloud services to mobile operating systems. And now it’s planning on expanding into fibre networks. If nothing else, Google has shown that a web company doesn’t need to be tied to the Internet.

4. Being “good” is easier when young

Since the beginning, Google has said it doesn’t want to “be evil.” But as it has grown and become a major organisation, it has had more difficulty proving to consumers that it is always the “good” company. Its most recent issues with privacy advocates on Google Buzz and Street View illustrate that point. Google has shown that the larger a company gets, the harder it is to keep users happy.