The Great Google

I am sure many of us are familiar with using Google's basic functions or at least, have heard of the name Google, which is the world's number one search engine today. To be honest, I did not know the extent of how great Google was until I sat through a week's lecture on Google by one of my instructors in school. I have played around with Google's features ever since and I am more than pleased to share what I have learnt.

Google Maps

The first thing that I explored on my own after my instructor's lecture was Google Maps because I personally found it very handy. It is a feature that enables you to get directions to where you want to go or it simply allows you to check a place out. I knew that Google Maps existed but I have never played around with it so extensively till last week! I am surprised at the accuracy and comprehensive list of features, such as having a comprehensive street view, enabling users to search what's available nearby and directions via public transport, private transport or walking. It really amazes me how Google manages to get such comprehensive coverage on areas around the world, not just Singapore. I will definitely be using this more often!

Google Trends

I also learnt about Google Trends in class and explored more on my own. Since I was doing a project on the record-low fertility rate in Singapore, I decided to search for low fertility trends in Singapore. Google Trends allow you to search by region and year but my search returned no results when I selected "Singapore" under region. I found out that Google Trends is better for getting a general idea of a certain trend and I would personally not use this feature for research papers as it is not comprehensive enough for my liking. One good feature in Google Trends, though, is that it brings you news results from your search too, which might be useful in helping you to gain more insights about your search.

Google Docs

Another feature that I found useful was Google Docs. As a student, perhaps many would expect me to be familiar with this feature but to be honest, I only became acquainted with it this semester when my lecturer used it to share documents with us and after my friend shared a file with me. The benefits of using Google Docs is that one is able to share files to many users at one time, as opposed to sending one file multiple times to many recipients. Also, it allows one to change settings, such as visibility and ownership, to suit one's preferences. However, I found it challenging to use as I found its interface slightly complicated. Also, as it is not a popular sharing platform among my peers, I do not see myself using it extensively anytime in the near feature but thumbs up to Google for creating such a useful file sharing feature that can be used by many at no cost at all!

Movie showtimes

Another interesting feature I learnt about Google is that local movie showtimes are available on Google! All I have to do is type "Showtimes for Singapore" and I am able to search for movie showtimes via theatre, day or timing. I do not know why I did not discover this useful feature earlier in the past but now that I have, I no longer have to go to the individual movie theatre company's website to check movie timings! It saves me so much more time and makes deciding what time to watch a movie so much more convenient!

Google has so many more features that are possibly undiscovered by many but it surely is a top-notch company that is competitive and versatile. Nowadays, you hear many people "googling" something thet they are unsure about and this certainly shows how successful the company has been. Google has been very useful to the majority of us so far I believe and I foresee that it will continue to grow to remain as great as it is now.