Life without Google Part 1: The Challenge
A few weeks ago a rare event happened: Google stopped working. For thousands of UK searchers, the search engine and many related websites went down for a few hours. This prompted me to wonder what a world without Google would be like – so I’m going to find out. So from Thursday, I’m going Google-free.
I’ll be blogging my experiences here, and commenting on Twitter with the tag #lifewithnogoogle.
No Google.co.uk, no Google toolbar, no YouTube, no Gmail, no logging into AdWords…I’ll be using Yahoo, Bing and whatever other alternatives I can on my computer, iPad and mobile (hands up – that’s powered by Google’s Android, but I still need to be able to make calls).
I‘m “experiencing” this over a working day, a day off and a Saturday to get a true flavour of how this affects both my work and personal life (and because I need to use AdWords the rest of the week!)
I’ll also be blogging on which companies might prosper in a Google-free world, and what the digital landscape might look like – if you have a comment or idea, please add it below, use the tag above on Twitter or DM me (no point emailing my public Gmail address, obviously).
Right now I’m getting ready to de-Google my trusty Mac; that alone reveals how much I rely on Google:
- Remove Google Toolbar
- Remove Google from browser search box
- Remove Gmail app from Mac
- Remove Gmail from app from phone
- Remove Google Search app from mobile and iPad
Now I have to resist the temptation to write a to-do list of Google-centric tasks for the rest of the day…that would be cheating!
All Comments
Google is the only company that actually scares me, it has an attitude of “we know best” it has so much information and it has a policy of changing its stance and the ‘do not evil’ the privacy implications of its Buzz launch weren’t addressed and more.
The problem is that I also sort of love Google, it is pretty much the best search engine, best email, I love picasa and I have an android phone, but I strongly believe that if Google wasn’t there, the gaps would be filled by other companies who might not offer it for free, but nominal payments to small companies help the economy, Google however sits between so many transactions taking small slices (I have seen so many scary PPC budgets).
Its odd, I remember how everyone was anti Microsoft for everything, but Google is perceived as ‘white’ through via the face of people like Matt Cutts…
I think most of us have what Martin Sorell labelled a “frienemy” relationship with Google – can’t live with, can’t live without…that’s certainly what I suspect I will find out.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BrandRepublic, cineandreea, themodcom, Duncan Parry, Rocktime UK and others. Rocktime UK said: Imagine life without Google!! RT @BrandRepublic Can you do it? Life without Google Part 1: The Challenge http://bit.ly/c3No2T /@thewallUK [...]
[...] the next 3 days Duncan Parry is living without Google – background here – and blogging the experience here and on Twitter under the tag [...]