I just read an interesting blog post on the direction Google is going with it’s algorithm changes and threats to website owners called Google’s Greatest Fear. To sum it up, Google is only as powerful as we make it. (Same goes with most corporations I guess) We make websites and by default, we allow Google to “borrow” our content to use in their index. The interesting take away for me is that if the population starts choosing to use another company to find their information, fewer people will be there to see the paid links and click on them and that is the bulk of Google’s income.
Certainly some food for thought.