Google, which is a massive online search engine of billions of articles and other various content throughout the Internet has been growing ever since its premiership in early 1996. With Google racing ahead and leaving their competitors whimpering in the dust they’ve virtually plowed through every obstacle that heads in their direction. The ones they haven’t mowed down they purchased through over 50 acquisitions. Google has taken great amounts of ideas, turned them around, and made it their own. Sites and services such as AdSense, AdWords, Gmail, and many more have taken their competition out, sometimes before they’ve even entered the fighting ring.

Since its early risings within suburbs and neighborhoods deep within California the company has grown into a massive producer in Internet marketing, navigation, and of course search industries. Now estimated to be valued in the $20 billion dollar range the company has grown to have one of the most valued stock shares on the face of the earth.

In addition to their 20,000 some odd employees they’ve created new ways in improving work management, in some cases making it so easy that employing workers no longer becomes necessary not only for Google itself but from other companies influenced by them. Take Google Voice for example: Now expecting to be released within the upcoming months, they allow their users to get their own “phone number” allowing them to access phones through their workplace, home, and cellphone. This will most likely take a major swing at large landline phone companies and possibly mobile carriers as well.

Everyone has heard of the term “when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold.” Well the same could be said for Google as the world’s dependence on this massive search company has become increasingly more obvious. Is this good for the health of the Internet though? Does letting Google have access into our lives become a positive or negative influence in our daily routine? In early 2009 Google had a situation where it listed almost every site on their search engine as “this site may harm your computer.” In fact they even had their own site labeled as being dangerous. This all caused an immediate panic throughout the Internet business community as users weren’t able to access common websites without being worried about the potential of viruses, spyware, and other malicious software infecting their systems.

So what if Google catches something a little worse than a cold? What if it’s a disease they can’t get rid of? This would affect the Internet as a whole in ways never thought possible. Google users would lose Gmail, Google Maps, Google Calendar, and virtually anything Google owned. Exterior websites wouldn’t be able to function properly because of their heavy reliance on tools made by Google such as Google Apps and Google Analytics. There are unlimited amounts of analogies that could explain the result of such a catastrophic event but the fact is that Google isn’t slowing down.

As the Internet grows Google will grow. This could potentially lead to a complete wipe out of their competition such as MSN, Ask, and many more search oriented sites. Is it appropriate for us to let Google grow this much? Has it or will it become necessary to find a way to slow it down?

I’d be really interested to hear your opinions on this topic so feel free to leave your remarks below. What does Google mean to you and your business? What features of Google do you use daily at work and/or at home? Do you rely on its functionality to much? What would you do if Google shut down for a day, week, or maybe even a month?