Power of Google & Yahoo Explored

In “More is Not Necessarily Better,” a thought-provoking New York Times op-ed piece, Matthew Hindman and Kenneth Neil Cukier write:

“Imagine if one company controlled the card catalog of every library in the world. The influence it would have over what people see, read and discuss would be enormous. . . .

“Few people realize that 95 percent of all Web searches in the United States are handled by two companies, Google and Yahoo. . . . The influence of search companies in determining what users worldwide can see and do online is breathtaking.

“As disquieting as this power may be, it masks a deeper problem. While search engines are indispensable for finding information online, the technology on which they are based serves to narrow the field of sites that people see.

“Google’s use of links to find content essentially turns the Web into the world’s biggest popularity contest—and just as in high school, this can have negative consequences.”

SOURCE: beSpacific