I have to admit: I am more of a Google girl than a Yahoo girl or even a Bing girl (apologies to the latter two). There is simply so much about my internet life which revolves around Google's entire suite of services. An experience shared with fellow netizens is how it has become a one-stop shop for our virtual needs. On the downside, Google is not Mr. Perfect and not all of its products are great. However, in the name of brand loyalty, we use them just the same. Which sometimes leads me to ask: is there life after Google? Only if another superbrand emerges and challenges its supremacy. In the meantime, here are the different ways by which Google rocks my world:

Google Search - this is the backbone of the Google business. I use this engine whenever I want to search for recipes, restaurants and other sundry things online. I can very well do the same thing using other search platforms, but somehow I feel more comfortable using Google. Blame it on the uncluttered, no-fuss design and the ability of the Googlebot to give me gazillion results on a single topic. It goes without saying that bloggers live and die for the chance to land first page on Google search. For the most part, it's how one's web traffic is determined.

Gmail - I love its promise of how I will never have to erase email again because of its 1 GB storage capacity. And that's a good thing since I presently have 9,245 unread mails in my inbox, LOL. Because of its capacity, I forward important things like Facebook notifications and newsletter subscriptions to my Gmail address. And Gmail Chat is kinda memorable because this is how I maintained my long distance relationship with my husband before we got married.

Google Voice in Gmail Chat - This is a pioneering call management application launched only last August 2010 which enables one to make calls to landline and mobile phones from within Gmail. How amazing is that? The best thing is that calls to the US and Canada are FREE. Hubby has used it so far to call relatives in the US and he now finds it better than Skype.

Blogger.com - WordPress wins it over Blogspot anytime but I get sentimental because my first blog was hosted on blogger.com and I still wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to first-time users who would like to know what blogging is all about. I just hope the brilliant guys at Google do something earth-shaking to make changes in blogger.com soon.

Google AdSense - how many top bloggers in the world have actually become millionaires by running Google Ads in their sites? You'll never guess. I wasn't abound to believe it, until I paid for my children's tuition downpayment this year using income from my site's Google ads. So yes, while AdSense pays us only a pittance at first, it is possible to build one's earnings over time with the proper placement of ads and working hard to get your site attract more readers (ergo, more readers click on more ads).

I am only talking here of the services I use most often. We haven't even scratched the surface yet of other Google offerings like Google Chrome, Youtube, the popular document-sharing service Google Docs, Google Analytics (for website metrics) Google Webmaster Tools, Google Insights (for the hottest search trends data) and other offerings.

Of course, don't forget the fast-rising Android OS. There's been so much talk about it that I now plan to switch my present phone to one that is powered by Android.

(For comments and inquiries, email annalyn.jusay@gmail.com)