Google!

As a preface of sorts, I decided to limit my research to official Google websites, so my information could be biased. However, I think that Google isn't evil yet, so it is probably fairly accurate.

One large facet of Google seems to be advertising. Google's primary source of income, it would seem, is from their advertising. Yet the ads remain unobtrusive and clearly designated. They use technology to give each user very relevant ads. I particularly enjoy the ads that come up in gmail. It always makes sense that I would see those ads, even if that isn't really what I was looking for. It seems to me that if Google continues with it's smart advertising, pretty soon people won't ever have to go to stores to buy things. Whatever I want, even if I only hint at it, is presented in an ad in my email or on a search page. I won't have to look for things to buy, they will come to me. This makes shopping somewhat more convenient, particularly because there isn't as much hunting around to find what is really important. Of course, people might start spending a lot more money on things that they don't really need because the suggestions will be for things that they hadn't thought to buy previously.

Google's published philosophy includes a list of "Ten Things" with short descriptions. The first one is to focus on the user, first and foremost. It's nice to know that they are trying to make a product that will work as well as possible for me instead of just trying to make money at my expense. This likely serves to balance the great focus on advertising and will likely keep people more loyal because they will not be bombarded with advertisements instead of useful content. If Google suddenly started advertising like lots of other websites with ridiculous and irrelevant large distracting banner ads people would probably stop using it as much and would probably not use the ads to find useful items. This would mean consumerism wouldn't change much in the next 10 years due to Google.

Numbers two and three on the list of Ten Things basically amount to making sure that what Google started out as, a search engine, will work a well as possible. They will focus on making sure that search works well and quickly. With such a powerful tool for browsing such vast amounts of information as are available on the internet, people will most likely find new hobbies and items to buy, even without relevant ad placement. In the past, one might need to go to a store to find out about all the latest camping equipment or knitting paraphernalia, but now they can sit at home or in an office and browse things from all over the world. I'm sure people buy things that they otherwise wouldn't because they find it online, and this trend will probably increase with time as searches get more efficient and people get more used to shopping from their desk. Another aid to shopping is Thing number five, which emphasizes accessing Google from anywhere. Stuck on a train going across the country? You could shop online! Sitting in a boring meeting or lecture? You could buy plane tickets to a much more exciting place! You could do comparison shopping right from the aisle of your local store. Sure, lots of information is out there, but a lot of it just might affect consumer habits. Instant gratification is getting to be the norm, instead of the luxury.

Thing six is the every-popular "do no evil", though it is phrased a bit differently. Google states that "you can make money without doing evil". This is why they don't bombard people with ads, even though that is how they make money. Google works hard to build the trust of users. Breaking that trust at this point would be disastrous. People don't expect to be able to trust other companies, but Google has the power and the information to become very evil, so people need to know that Google can indeed be trusted. If people lost their trust in Google, Google wouldn't be able to change consumer habits in the nest 10 years, and the answer to the nebulous question posed for this blog assignment would be "N/A".

Another factor that might affect consumers is Google Ventures, which aims to invest in companies that could improve "consumer internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech, and health care, just to name a few. Google doesn't require these companies to even use Google products. They just want to help companies that are doing a good thing to grow. Google could fund some of the most important consumer businesses in the future, which would steer consumers, though the exact ramifications of this are very difficult to predict.

In summation, Google does a lot that will undoubtedly affect consumer habits in the future. They make shopping more efficient and help consumers to be more informed, both of what exactly they want and what they didn't know they wanted until they saw it. People trust Google and will therefore keep using it and clicking on ads. Funds from Google Ventures will have an very unpredictable effect on the future.