In addition to being the most popular search engine in the world, Google is also one of the largest technology companies, along with other technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Since its inception in 1997, Google has not only focused on developing search engines, but also other products, both software such as Android and hardware such as Pixel.
With experience in the tech industry that cannot be underestimated, Google has many stories and facts along the way with some of them being quite interesting and unique. Here are 8 interesting facts that little knows about Google.
1. Google’s initial name is BackRub
Not just a term for one of the techniques in massaging, BackRub is in fact Google’s initial name. Before being known as Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin as the founders brainstormed to determine the name of their search engine.
BackRub was then chosen because it was the name of a research project they did while still studying at Stanford University in 1996.
2. Google’s name was inspired by googol numbers
Although it sounds like a made-up name, the name Google is actually inspired by the mathematical term, googol, which means the number 1 followed by 100 numbers 0.
The name Google came from a typo or typo of a typo or a typo of Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s colleagues named Sean Anderson, where when told to check the availability of the domain for “googol”, he even typed “google”.
3. Google had tried to sell their search engines to Yahoo in 1997
In 1997 when Google was still an unknown company, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had offered their search engines to Yahoo for $1 million. The offer was of course rejected but in 2002, Yahoo then made a US$3 million offer to Google when it became more successful and known.
Feeling less, Google asked for US$5 million which Yahoo certainly did not approve. Now after approximately two decades, Google has a net worth valuation of US$2 trillion.
4. Global internet usage dropped by 40 percent when Google “went out” in 2013
Google rarely goes out, but when that happens, the impact is no joke. In August 2013, Google went out for five minutes which resulted in the shutdown of their services such as Search, Gmail and YouTube.
In that fairly short duration, global internet usage is known to have dropped by 40 percent. From this significant decline, it can be easily seen how many people around the world are very dependent on Google and its various services.
5. 15 percent of searches on Google every day are new
With trillions of searches being conducted each year, many think that people around the world are looking for something the same over and over again. In fact, about 15 percent of the searches made on Google every day are searches for something new.
Google shared this information through their official blog in 2017 and with the year now in 2022, it is not impossible if that percentage has risen to 20 percent or even more.
6. Google’s acquisition of YouTube occurred in a restaurant
YouTube was originally an independent company before it was acquired by Google in 2006 for US$1.65 billion. Although it sounds like a regular acquisition, there is a unique story behind Google’s acquisition process of YouTube.
YouTube co-founder – Steven Chen explained that the negotiation process for the acquisition of YouTube was carried out in an unusual place, namely a restaurant called Denny’s. Negotiations then took place and finally agreed, shortly after the food he ordered, namely steak mozzarella, came.
7. The word “Googling” was officially recognized as a verb in 2006
Since its establishment in 1997, Google’s dominance in the internet sector has continued to soar and its main service, Namely Search, has become very important for the daily lives of many people around the world.
Through that massive impact, the word “Google” was finally incorporated into the Oxford English Dictionary in June 2006 and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary a month later. Not only that, the word “Googling” was also officially recognized as a verb and is now a phrase for the activity of searching for information online.
8. The first Google Doodle with a Burning Man theme
Major special events or celebrations are generally marked with Google Doodles. But interestingly, the first Google Doodle was created not to celebrate such a special event or day. The first Google Doodle was themed around an annual festival in Nevada called Burning Man and was created to inform if Larry Page and Sergey Brin were at the festival, in case there was something problematic at Google headquarters. Since then, Google Doodle has been used to celebrate special days or commemorate world figures.
Those were the reviews about some interesting facts that not many people know about Google. From some of the facts above, which one do you only know at this time?
