Google became famous for search and it is still synonymous with search today. It has entered the language as a verb, to google something means search for it, preferably on Google.
Google is much more than that now, with a list of services that is boggling. Google+ is one of their newest additions (launched in July 2011) and it’s inclusion is something that frightens the competition.
Google+ is steadily being integrated across Google’s range of products, so that it becomes a social spine to their existing and future portfolio. That is something that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook cannot compete with. The most recent addition is the ability to share your Google Drive documents directly with your Google+ contacts. You can already start Google+ chats and hangouts from within Gmail and YouTube has also had a makeover with Google+. It’s this seamless integration that is going to be the real killer.
Google Chrome is currently the most widely used browser in the world according to StatCounter. Unlike Internet Explorer, it is available on a number of platforms (Windows, Linux, OS X, Android, iOS). When you sign into Chrome you can synchronize your browser tabs across all of these platforms, access your Google Drive documents, view your Google+ feed, etc. In the case of smart phones, you can install separate apps for your favourite Google services like Google+, Google Drive and YouTube. Everything you can do on one machine you can automatically do on another. So for example, you start creating a document on your Windows PC in the office, but don’t have time to finish it right away. You leave the office and continue typing away on your smartphone or tablet while on the train. When you get home, you boot up your PC and can immediately continue where you left off five minutes before.
Google is everywhere. Should we be worried? Not if it means it makes our lives a little bit easier.
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