Google - Internet Democracy in Action?

[JKomp]

Is Google, as its creators (Larry Page and Sergey Brin - as if you didn't know) claim, ‘uniquely democratic’? Well, it is certainly unique, or at least it was when it was founded. However, its claim to be democratic is extremely questionable at best. If it is indeed a democracy, it is one comparable to 19th Century Britain, where only the rich had any real vote, some people had multiple votes and bribery was rife.
Google works on the assumption that by putting a link on your page to another site, you are casting a vote for that website. However, is this assumption a reasonable one to make? The short answer is…no. The primary, and perhaps most fundamental flaw in this is that people can put more than one link on their page. If some people have more votes than others, then surely this undermines the democratic fabric on which Google is said to be based. Furthermore, people often pay for links on high ranking sites - we call this advertising. Google reads every link on a page, it has no 100% effective way of knowing whether it was paid for or not. Can a system where votes can easily be bought, ever be described as democratic, even in the loosest sense?
Another crack in Google’s claim to be democratic is the fact that some votes are worth more than others. The higher a site ranks on Google, the higher the value of its votes. This seems reasonable, a high ranking site must have useful content, (to have been linked to by other sites, although this page may, indeed, have purchased these links!) therefore it is likely to link to another site with valuable content. However, it is not the fairness of Google’s system that this article is questioning, it is its claim to be democratic. Weighted voting cannot exist in a truly democratic system.
Overall, Google’s system is indeed ‘uniquely democratic’, in the sense that it is unique compared to any modern democratic system I know of. With; multiple voting, some votes being worth more than others, buying votes and more, it is extremely doubtful that Google is indeed the democracy of the internet.

Let me know your thoughts.

[cbp]

Google works on the assumption that by putting a link on your page to another site, you are casting a vote for that website. However, is this assumption a reasonable one to make? The short answer is…no.

It was a good assumption until webmasters started exchanging links that scammed the PR system.

CBP

[JKomp]

Hi, good point. But, don't democratic systems have to be dynamic, responding to change and act accordingly to any abuse of the electoral system? I am not questioning how 'good' the google system is, I am, however, questioning its claims to be democratic.

[activeco]

First of all, there is no democracy in the world.
If it was, that would be chaotic society, regulated and ruled by the jungle law.
Decision about the dinner menu in a society consisted of 1000 wolves and 500 lambs would be pretty clear and very democratic in nature.

It seems that Google follows this hard definition and applies it to their algo's, so I would say, yes, their claim is right.

[Kenai Alaska]

It was a good assumption until webmasters started exchanging links that scammed the PR system.

CBP

Exactly the problem. Link building practices have gotten way off track. How to compensate is now the real question. For every move forward in the realm of search relevancy, exploitation will ensue. Linking to a relevant site is natural and expected, but this unnatural link building from totally off subject sites is getting out of hand and very time consuming. Want to see a real relevant search? Try www.DMOZ.org. Humans still do it better...

[cbp]

but this unnatural link building from totally off subject sites is getting out of hand and very time consuming

Which is probably why google have a much more sophisticated link analysis in the algo now and maybe introduced the sandbox.

CBP

[cbp]

but this unnatural link building from totally off subject sites is getting out of hand and very time consuming

Which is probably why google have a much more sophisticated link analysis in the algo now and maybe introduced the sandbox.

CBP

[Tubby]

If I place a link on my site to another website . It is a vote for that website. (I recommend it). . . Millions of sites do likewise.

[JKomp]

My point, i suppose was more philosophical than SE based. Activeco, I would have to disagree with you. Democracy is a word we have select to define systems that exist in the world, so I would propose that democracies must therefore exist. However, the essence of your post is accurate, a democratic system is not a perfect system. As a famous guy (Winston Churchill) once said 'Democracy is the best form of the worst type of government'