Google’s 25th Anniversary: Celebrating Innovation

Mason Vera Paine

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Google has been an influential figure in technology. Starting out as a search engine, it has developed far beyond what it initially was. Google Trends Expert Luma Hamade is here to discuss Google’s various milestones. For the latest trends from Google visit: Trends.Google.com/TrendsFollow Twitter on Google at: Twitter.com/GoogleLike Google on Facebook at: Facebook.com/GoogleLike and Follow Google on Instagram at: Instagram.com/Google https://75dc83.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/14.-Luma-Hamade-Google-25th-Anniversary.mp3 Google 25th Anniversary Transcription 00:00 - Announcer: Mason Vera Paine. 00:01 - Mason Paine: Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Google has revolutionized the technology industry. Starting out as just a search engine, it has evolved into so much more than that. Joining me to discuss Google's journey is Google trends expert, Luma Hamade. Thanks for joining me, Luma. 00:17 - Luma Hamade: Yeah, I'm super glad to be here. 00:19 - Mason Paine: So what happened? Google was just a search engine, and now it's this huge company. Was that always the dream? 00:27- Luma Hamade: When we talk about the start of Google, it really started in 1996 when Larry and Serge, who were both PhD students at Stanford, found out how to create a search algorithm that was based off of what we call relevancy. Making sure that when you're searching for something such as a dog crate as an example, you're not getting a bunch of links for dog adoption because we're assuming you already have a dog or have those plans. That search engine, as you correctly mentioned, became really popular. In 1998, it was incorporated into Google and Google link. When it comes to the other media that we've touched, we've definitely expanded into mass and shopping, but our core message really stays the same of just making information accessible to everyone, making information equitable for everyone. I think we've done a really great job at that. Looking back on 25 years, we've helped a lot of people, which has been really great. 1:22 - Mason Paine: Twenty-five years, that's a really long time. There's got to be some notable achievements. What are some of the biggest things that Google has done so far? 1:30 - Luma Hamade: I think everybody has a story of a Google product that's changed their lives. For me personally, one of those stories was in 2006 when we created Google Translate. I come from a very multicultural family. A lot of people in my family speak many different languages. English actually wasn't my first language, although I hope you can't tell at this point in time. Having that accessibility to translate in real time and communicate with each other was really, really huge for my family. Going forward, the work that we've done on the translation front hasn't stopped. We also have this new product called Lens. You can think of it like your camera lens, where you can actually point at a sign or a menu that's in a different language and it'll translate it for you right away. It's making things like travel so much easier, connections to people so much easier. 2:23 - Mason Paine: It's true. I never thought about it until you started saying how things that changed your life and password manager changed my life because I don't have to remember anything. 2:35 - Luma Hamade: I Love that. 2:38 - Luma Hamade: I don't because I have really long passwords now, uppercase, lowercase, special characters. I'm like, What am I doing? I can't remember too much. I end up using the same one over and over again. But with password manager, I've gotten so lazy. 2:56 - Luma Hamade: Oh, my gosh. I still feel that. I feel the same, too, with shopping. You used to have to go into 10-plus stores to find what you wanted. Now you can look it up and see the inventory within two seconds and walk into the place that has actually what you need. I just think so much time has been saved for everyon...