Google Serving 1,000,000,000 People Per Week

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Google yesterday launched Google Instant, a feature that gives you immediate search results as you're typing your query. However, embedded in that announcement was another little announcement: Google is now serving one billion people per week.

Google Instant wasn't the only thing Marissa Meyer was excited about at yesterday's event in the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco. Meyer revealed that 2010 is the best year so far for Google Search and that the company has already blown past 2009's number of 500 UI changes. However, the most mind-blowing fact was probably that Google now serves one billion people a week. That's nearly a sixth of the population of the world.

But why stop at a billion? With Google Instant, Co-founder Sergey Brin told Bloomberg that the company will reach even more people. Meyer said yesterday that the new feature will save users 11 hours per second, and Brin thinks that people will search more, because they have more time.

"Ultimately I think that if people are able to search faster, then they're going to be able to search more and they're going to be able to research more topics that are important to them," Brin told Bloomberg. "Ultimately I think that's going to draw more users, more activity and that's going to be good for us, for advertisers and most importantly for users themselves."

Have you tried Google Instant yet? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

Jane McEntegart
36 Comments Comment from the forums
  • webbwbb
    I have tried it but I didn't it was even more magical than an Apple product. I must have missed the 10 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds I gained for every second I was searching. Man I love Google.
    Reply
  • google instant is just epic. so mind blowing. otherwordly feature id say
    Reply
  • kriswitak
    The Fact that I don't have to rephrase my search and re-click in the box after my search doesn't return what I am looking for is worth it alone. I think this is where that time lost comes from. If you don't get what you want, just backspace and retype in literally half the time. You don't have to move your other hand to the mouse to get another result. I know a lot of people are knocking it b/c they don't like it, but it's a nice feature to have, and I'm glad they have developed it.
    Reply
  • stingstang
    Oh come on. It's not a billion different people a week. It's 200 million people 5 times a week.
    Reply
  • bobusboy
    I stopped using google a long time a go
    Reply
  • xerroz
    greghomeAt least it's better than bingtrust me, its not


    a billion people? unlikely, its prob 145 millionjavascript:%20void(0); people a day
    Reply
  • Pyroflea
    xerroztrust me, its nota billion people? unlikely, its prob 145 million people a day
    It's not individuals obviously, just 1,000,000,000 search queries I'd assume. *Shrugs*
    Reply
  • czar1020
    "Meyer said yesterday that the new feature will save users 11 hours per second, and Brin thinks that people will search more, because they have more time."

    Did i miss something? 11 hours per second?
    Reply
  • cronik93
    That "Instant search" thing really pissed me off last night.

    Its so damn useless.
    Reply
  • dapneym
    I'm actually rather liking Instant Search when I've used it. The results come quick, and they've generally been what I'd like. I don't really care about hitting the search button since it gets me to where I would have gone anyway.

    czar1020"Meyer said yesterday that the new feature will save users 11 hours per second, and Brin thinks that people will search more, because they have more time." Did i miss something? 11 hours per second?
    By 11 hours per second he meant that when you combine all the time saved (they estimate 3-5 seconds per search) that every second users performing searches would, on the whole, save 11 hours.
    Reply