"The Universal Gift"- COM125 (Assignment #4)

Name me one person who doesn’t love gifts. Yes, there are some instances where we find those who love to give more than to receive such as myself; but in general gifts can put a smile on anyone’s face. But what is the true definition of this wonderful thing that seems to make almost anyone happy?

According to http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/gift, a gift is “something that is voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.” Gifts aren’t just for special occasions, they can be given at anytime as an act of kindness or maybe even as a thank you. To me, the best part about sharing a gift with someone is the look in their eyes and the expression on their face. The best way that I can describe this, is like when you look at a child while they are trying their first piece of candy.

Another aspect which is very similar to the term gift is gift economy. Gift economy is “is an economic system in which goods and services are given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future quid pro quo” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy).
For those who don’t know what “quid pro quo” is, it’s defined as an equal exchange of goods or services.

Gift economies are driven by social interaction. It involves the sharing and giving on information without anything in return. Relating to the Internet, it is the act of sharing or giving useful knowledge and information to one another without any type of cost.
Now this is a true act of kindness!

A gift economy that I’m involved with along with all, if not most, of the students here at UB is GOOGLE. Google is open to the public, and is an American corporation that specializes in Internet research and online advertising. It is one of the biggest search engines, if not number one. Its mission statement truly defines what they are all about. It is “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google). Google has expanded its horizons in so many ways. They’re not just a search engine anymore, they also have web-based email, video sharing, office productivity, blogging; you name it, Google has it.

Our generation revolves around Google. We would all be lost without it. There is not one thing that you can’t find on Google. It amazes me how when we don’t know something, the first thing that comes into mind is “hey, just Google it.” This may not necessarily be a good thing, just because in a way we’ve become lazy to do actual research. The good side about ‘Google-ing’ something is that it’s still a form of research.

After reading what they were about, it’s no wonder that people are drawn to their sources. They’re such a laid back company that you would never think they were so successful! Something else that caught my eye was their slogans, “"Don't be evil", and "Work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun." Those statements say it all.

Google seems like an amazing company to work for. I’m proud to say that one of my good friends is in the process of interviewing with them. They flied her out to California last month and we’re keeping our fingers crossed! Hopefully I’ll have a great opportunity in the future to work for a company like Google.

Here's some more information about Google:

Google Inc.
Type
Public (NASDAQ: GOOG), (LSE: GGEA)
Founded
Menlo Park, California (September 7, 1998[1])
Headquarters
Mountain View, California, USA
Key people
Eric E. Schmidt, CEO/DirectorSergey Brin, Co-Founder, Technology PresidentLarry E. Page, Co-Founder, Products PresidentGeorge Reyes, CFO
Industry
Internet, Computer software
Products
See list of Google products
Revenue
10.604 Billion USD (2006)[2]
Net income
3.077 Billion USD (2006)[2]
Employees
13,748 (June 30, 2007)
Slogan
Don't Be Evil
Website
http://www.google.com/
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Sources:

*Kollock, Peter. (1999). The economics of online cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in cyberspace. Retrieved on 17 September, 2007 from
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

*http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/gift

*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google