Google as a Political Force

Does this blog focus too much on Google? It may seem that way, with stories focusing on the industry leader at least once a week. (Remember, if you think this is the case, that’s what the comments are for!)

Really, though, it makes sense to us that Google should be the primary focus of a blog about web hosting and technology. After all, Google is bar none the most important company name to know if you’re involved in any of these fields. We’re fascinated by Google’s rise to power and how more and more of the world revolves around it.

Even the non-technological business world news is being dominated by Google these days. From last weekend’s New York Times:

LAST century, General Motors assembly plants were a regular stop on the itineraries of presidential candidates. This election cycle, Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., has become a favorite destination.

Hillary Rodham Clinton made the pilgrimage in February. Then came John McCain, Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Ron Paul, Mike Gravel and most recently, Barack Obama.

In terms of theatrical symbolism, the trip to Google is similar to the G.M. plant visit. In both cases, the visits gave the candidate the chance for a photo opportunity at the most technologically advanced edge of the economy, “signaling identification with the future,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.

On a more mundane level, candidates in the pre-mass-media era were concerned with reaching as many prospective voters as possible in one place, and any large factory would do. At Google, the number of employees who can see the candidates in person is limited: the largest space at the Googleplex holds only a few hundred people.

This might not directly relate to any new technology or device that Google is introducing, but nonetheless, we were struck at the historical implications and what it means for America that a company that didn’t even exist ten years ago is now seen as the ultimate symbol of American entrepreneurship. Not just by tech-heads, not just by those in the Internet industry — but also from the politicians vying to become the next president

Check out the original article here, and let us know what you think in the comments section, below.

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