It is impossible to measure the impact Google has had on modern society, because there is nothing to compare it to, except perhaps the Guttenberg Press in 1436.
On September 27, 1998, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, two Stanford University PhD students, launched their first webpage on a unique search platform they had developed and named as a word play on “googol,” the mathematical term for a one followed by one hundred zeroes. Google will mark their birthday with a celebratory logo and animated Doodle highlighting popular searches from their history.
In 2004 on April Fool’s Day they began upsetting apple-carts with the creation of G-mail and email was never the same again.
In 2005 they changed how we got from one place to the next with the introduction of Google Maps.
In 2006 Google expanded to China and acquired You Tube, launching AdSense in 2007.
The Chrome browser was brought online in 2008, growing into an Operating System in 2011, and moved into android phones in 2008.
Taking us beyond the written word of the Guttenberg Press, today Google has developed voice-activated searches with Google Assistant.
In 2010 Google began working on driverless cars, and have been propelling us deeper into a future that we’re still trying to get our brains around, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence.