Exploring How Search Engines are Shaping Society

Nowadays, people live in a society that has fuelled the growth of information delivered across many communication channels. Technology has enabled the ‘knowledification’ of our society (providing information through digital means). Undoubtedly, the Internet is the world’s largest communication network which has ported data across various conduits to provide information and in many ways, continues to shape us as a society. Information if available ‘24/7’ often contributing towards technological connectivity and technological anxiety. Some of the key factors which have contributed to this are the sense of information availability and searchability. Moreover, digital search has assumed a position of central importance in the way that people access and use online information and services in everyday life. In this article, the author examines the dominance of search, the power it presents to those who control it, its role in shaping access to information, and its capacity to function as a reflection of our society. By shaping both what people know and how people know it, search engines and their organisations are able to wield an immense amount of social power. In doing so, the author revisits the concept of search and unmasks its ability to act as a social control or gatekeepers of information which shapes society. The contribution of this paper is summarised in the Search Engine Success Model which examines how society is shaped through search engine organisations who are gatekeepers of information. In Search We Trust: Exploring How Search Engines are Shaping Society