For small online publishers like my own company, NewWest.Net, Google is the ultimate doubled-edge sword.

On the one hand, Google has driven the post-dot-com renaissance of internet media and the internet as a whole, and thus in some ways made companies like mine possible. On the other hand, the benefits of the renaissance of internet media, at least from a financial standpoint, have flowed overwhelmingly not to start-ups like mine, but to Google itself.

On the one hand, Google provides great analytical tools, which give us much better data on our site usage than anything else. On the other hand, Google has all the data on our site usage, in real time, which it can use however it would like. Plus, we're pretty much obliged to use Google Analytics since now everyone expects it.

On the one hand, Google AdSense delivers more revenue than any other keyword advertising service we could run on our site, by quite some measure. On the other hand, Google won't even tell us what our cut of the revenue is, which doesn't seem right, especially since the answer is probably "a very small cut indeed."

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  Jonathan Weber

On the one hand, Google is the ultimate champion of linking and aggregating, which is a key part of the strategy of any small publisher these days. On the other hand, Google is so dominant that it can set its own rules on so-called "fair use", because no one dares to opt out of the Google index. But the little guys can't play by those same rules, because they big content owners wouldn't allow it. (See the recent case of the Associated Press versus The Drudge Retort.)

On the one hand, Google provides all kinds of useful services at no cost: e-mail, document storage, blogging platforms, video serving, interactive mapping, and on and on. On the other hand, the fine print for some of these services specifies non-commercial use, and while this is not enforced at the moment, that could change at any time. And it's not hard to see how most other providers of these things could disappear in the face of Google's hegemony.

On the one hand, Google's lobbying troops in Washington provide a good counterweight to the ultimate lobbying champs of the information economy, the telephone companies and the broadcasters. On the other hand, one can't help but suspect that Google's ultimate position on issues like net neutrality will revolve not around what's good for the internet economy as a whole, but what's good for Google.

On the one hand, Google played the "white knight" to keep Yahoo! out of Microsoft's clutches. On the other hand, the manoeuvrings have vastly weakened Yahoo!, which was Google's biggest competitor, and the result is even greater market power for Google.

On the one hand, there are all kinds of business opportunities in riding the coattails of the Google juggernaut. On the other hand, there may soon be fewer business opportunities that don't involve riding the coattails of the Google juggernaut.

On the one hand, Sergey Brin and Larry Page are models for any aspiring internet entrepreneur. On the other hand, their achievements are so fantastical that mere mortals can't even think of going there. And besides, I'm already too old.

Every market forecast that I've seen recently suggests that Google's market share in most segments is still growing, which is pretty amazing when you're already at a 60 or 70 per cent share. That double-edged sword keeps getting sharper, and for better and for worse it will be keeping all of us on our toes.

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Jonathan Weber is the founder and editor in chief of NewWest.Net, a regional news service focused on the Rocky Mountain West in the United States. He was previously the co-founder and editor in chief of the Industry Standard

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