For years, Google, Inc. has held a notorious reputation for being the biggest cyber-bully on the block. As a result, it has been the target of virtual vitriol for its "insidious and potentially pernicious" business practices. Essentially, Google has been alleged as one of the kings of online malpractice, charged with smothering search neutrality and manipulating search results to hoarding queries and invading our privacy. (Ironically, Facebook passed Google as most-viewed site in US earlier this year. So now, it seems that Facebook -- another space invader -- has a stranglehold on our collective attention, time, and keystrokes.)
However we want to slice it, Google's evolution from search engine to superpower is our doing. We are a modern-day Doctor Victor Frankenstein, if you will, and our hands (by way of clicking, anyway) created Google the Monstrosity.
In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein's monster, much like Google today, is often referred to as "fiend," "demon," "wretch," and "devil." But it isn't all doom and gloom - the big fella is just misunderstood and taken at face-value. "Don't be evil" is the informal corporate motto (or slogan) of Google, whose presence has also been oversimplified over time. Here's a side of the Web behemoth that is less publicized, but no less public - and no less significant. In this (holiday) spirit, Google has decided to donates $20 million to charities for the 2010 holidays.
This $20 million social investment will be used to change the lives of 50 million people around the world in the coming year. Google's donation, as simple as it may be, will have a great impact in strengthening education systems, healthcare, environmental stewardship, as well as improving the technical capacity of 1,500,000 aid organizations worldwide.
As recipients of a $1 million grant to support Ashoka's News & Knowledge Entrepreneurs program, we're obviously cheering Google's efforts. Best said by program director Keith Hammonds:
"We’re gratified that a company whose mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” will fuel our global incubator for emerging innovators in the media realm. With Google’s grant, Ashoka’s Changemakers initiative will host a collaborative online competition to source hundreds of solutions from around the world. The insights generated by this competition will help us identify and elect at least four new Ashoka Fellows on four continents."
If $20 million being given to organizations like Ashoka, the Bharti Foundation, and UNICEF isn't enough for you, Google is also planning to give away over $140 million by this time next year.
The shift has hit the fan.Google is filtering its lifeblood for the better and flipping its business model on its head. It is now driving innovation, while advancing freedom of information and protecting privacy. This metamoprhosis is big. Really big. Google's influence combined with the compassion of leading social change organizations will foster a new age of information citizenship, in which the world's citizens will be more engaged in the creating an international democratic community.
My hat, at least, is off to you Google. Here's lookin' at you, kid!
Photo credit: Tropical Toxic
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