The Ethics of Google

The Ethics of Google

“Don’t Be Evil” is Google’s informal corporate slogan. The founders of Google claimed that this motto explained their culture that “prohibited conflicts of interest, and required objectivity and an absence of bias.” According to Google’s code of conduct page this slogan is, “about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can. But it’s also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect.”

Can Google do business in an ethical manner if they allow for people to search for unethical content? Laws may decide what is legal, but who decides what is unethical or evil?

Every day someone searches for how to do something illegal and/or unethical through utilizing Google’s search engine. How much content should Google censor?  The following articles address Google censorship issues:

U.S. News reported, “The company is based in the United States, and thus must comply with U.S. laws. As a part of its policy, Google already censors things like child pornography, and complies with copyright infringement requests (a heavy volume of which come from videos uploaded on YouTube). Yet because services such as YouTube and Blogger are popular around the world, the company must decide to what extent it will remove content deemed illegal or offensive to foreign governments.”

Related Articles:

Google and Facebook April Fool’s Day Jokes

On April Fool’s Day the Internet is full of contributors trying to play on our gullibility.  Facebook has its share of people listing today as their birthday or reporting unusual updates.  The following is Google’s attempt at playing the game:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu927_ul_X0&w=640&h=390]

Google, Facebook, Zynga and Twitter Battle for Talented Employees

In an article in today’s WSJ.com, they discuss how there is a war going on within the top technology firms to attract the best employees. To read the full article, click here.   As noted in the picture below, Google has over 23,000 employees, Facebook 1700, Zynga 1250 and Twitter 300.  Note that percentage increase in employees is strongest for Twitter with a 203% increase, followed by Zynga with a 178% increase, then Facebook with a 70% increase and Google with a 19% increase since last year.

[GOOGHIREjp]
image via online.wsj.com

What is a Monopsony? How does it Relate to Companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Google?

Many have heard the word monopoly but have you heard the word monopsony?  This word is becoming more commonly used.  A monopsony exists when there is a market dominated by a single buyer, giving power to set the price for whatever is being purchased.  If there is no competition, the buyer can pay less for what they are purchasing.  Demand all comes from this one source.  This would be the opposite from a monopoly where the monopoly is about supply; the monopsony is about demand.

Some examples that have been given of monopsonies include major employers in a small town, universal healthcare, and the post office. Some very popular companies such as Wal-Mart, Microsoft and Google have also been called monopsonies. 

Can a company be both monopoly and a monopsony?  In a white paper about Google, it is suggested that Google’s has a monopolistic hold on search advertising, but also may be considered a monopsony, by restraining digital commerce. Click here to find out more about Google and its stronghold in the technology market.   

Check Out:

Monopsony As the Dominant Market Structure of Web 2.o

Monopsony Employers

How does advertising with Yahoo differ from Google?

[YAHOO]

image via online.wsj.com

I saw the above chart today from eMarketer and it surprised me a bit.  I hear so much about Google adwords that I expected their income from ads to be higher.

How does advertising with Yahoo differ from Google?  I found an interesting comparison from mybesttradingwebhosting.com that showed some comparisons between advertising with each of the sites:

Yahoo! Advertising

Yahoo! Advertising gives its advertisers custom solutions to choose from that allow for brand building and response drives.

The more popular solution is the company’s sponsored search solution. This program allows advertisers to control the overall marketing cost by setting a daily budget. Advertisers can also set the amount they wish to pay each time an advertisement is clicked and payments are only made for those ads clicked upon. Additionally, advertisers can stop specific ads and completely close out their advertising account at any time, no questions asked.

The Yahoo sponsored search solution has a reach of over 2.3 billion potential clients and customers. To even further narrow an advertising customer base, advertisers can utilize the company’s geo-targeting feature – allowing for very specifically targeted marketing. Created ads can also be rotated to see which message garners the most traffic. In-depth reporting is part of the program and offers the ability for advertisers to see results in real-time.

Google AdWords

Google AdWords allows advertisers the ability to choose keywords related to their business or service and create ads based on these selections.

Just like its counterpart, Google AdWords allows for setting a specified budget and advertisers only pay for actual clicks on their ads rather than any set daily or monthly amount. Advertisements can be placed on hold or removed entirely when it is found that some ads are garnering more traffic and customers than other ads.

As one of the most used search engines, Google AdWords can offer an extremely large base of potential customers. For local businesses wishing to target a more specialized and specific audience, Google AdWords offers the ability to narrow advertising regions to a particular region, state or even city. Customers can be targeted to within 20 miles of a business’ front door. Additionally, ads can be set to show a business’ location when searchers are seeking data within Google.com and Google Maps.

Excerpt only – to read the rest of the article go to:  mybestratedwebhosting.com