Media Hememonies: Who owns What?

Media Hegemonies: Mapping who owns what

For this blog entry, I thought back to when we had a class discussion on who exactly owns Google, what does Google own, and how does Google become a profitable organization.Google is an amazing success story, created as a research project in 1996 by Stanford graduates. It has come a long way since then, as millions of people around the world recognize this site as their "go to" spot to find what exactly they are after. No longer do we search on the internet, we now "Google it". It is imperative in many people’s lives, including mine, who used GOOGLE to research this very blog I am writing (ironic much?) Google is said to own 500 domain names according to mydigmedia.com. The list of what exactly Google owns is below:

Deja.com
Pyra Labs-Blogger
Neotonic Software-for CRMApplied Semantics-for search
Kaltix Corp-for context sensitve search
Genius Labs-for bloggingIgnite Logic-web templates for law firms
Picassa-digi photo management
Keyhole Group-digital mapping
Where 2 Technologies-digital mapping
ZipDash-maps and traffic for mobile devices2
Web Technologies-spreadsheets
Urchin-metrics/analytics
Dodgeball-mobile social networking
Reqwireless Inc.-Java browser
Current Communications Group-broadband internet
Android-software for mobile phone o/s
Transformic Inc-search engine for deep/invisible webSkia-graphics software engineering
DMarc Broadcasting-digital radio broadcasting
Measure Map-analytics for blogs
Upstartle-Writely, document editor for the web
@Last Software-SketchUp 3D modeling
Orion-Referral search engine
Neven Vision-automatic information extraction from jpgs
Jotspot Ind-wiki platform for websites
YouTube-online video company
Endoxen-geomapping software
Xunlei-filesharing app for the web
Adscape Media-in-game advertising
Gapminder's Trendalyzer-presentation software
Doubleclick-ad platform for the web
Tonic Systems-document conversion technology
Marratech-video conferencing technology
Green Border Technologies-secure web browsing tech
Panoramio-photo site sharing for Google EarthFeedbumer-RSS feed distribution analytics and managementGrandCentral-mobile voice managementPostini-communications security and compliance


Now seeing what exactly Google owns is great, but 99% of those companies I have never heard of, nor used, so how the hell does Google turn a profit? And the answer to that from what I research was advertising. In fact, 99% of its annual revenue is from advertising. From what I can comprehend, Google receives money for each “click” or “hit” it receives from any given site. The money received may vary from a few cents, to a few dollars per click.

I am not sure if there are any negative implications of Google becoming what it has become. I believe it is amazing what they have accomplished. To be recognized as one of the world’s most successful organizations, as well as being voted best company to work for is difficult to achieve. I feel if Google can continue to provide their service as a reliable search engine, nothing negative can come of it.