Google Updates the "10 Things" Philosophy 2006/03/29

The list of “Ten things Google has found to be true” has been under the corporate information section of the site for forever (well 4 years) - but was updated for the first time just this week - likely in response to post about Google Finance on John Battelles Searchblog.

In the post he jokes about how out of date it had become, as the company has offered more and more services they promised were outside the scope of Google’s search driven mission.

(Of course, as Google now points out in a disclaimer at the bottom of the site, their actual mission is so broad - “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” - it can certainly be held to include a financial site or mail service here and there if it helps improve their market share.)

But, there is also no doubting, the company’s philosophy really has changed since Larry and Brin first found those 10 things to be true. Even at the time, boasting to never offer horoscopes or financial advice was more than just a thinly veiled (very thinly) jab at Yahoo - it really did set Google apart as a technology company devoted - obsessed even - with search.

So the question becomes: Is Google really a technology company, a “search” company - “the search company” - or is it a portal, a mass media company - can it be both?

I can think of another company that manages to pull that off in stride.