My favorite part of the article linked below is where the writer says that Google is not a search engine, it is a web reputation management system. There is certainly a great deal of truth to that statement, though Google is both. Oftentimes Google is used, by detractors, to ruin the reputation of a person, company, or product.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html