If you think your business can survive the recession – think long and hard. The world’s biggest bank had to be baled out by the US Government yesterday, the historical Lehman Brothers has disappeared and leading car makers are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Now, even Google is in trouble. The leading financial advisory publication in the USA, Barron’s is advising that people sell their shares in Google because of significant falls in search advertising revenues. A year ago Google’s shares were worth a staggering $741. Today they are $271 – a jaw-dropping 63% plummet. People are obviously responding to the Barron’s suggestion because the volume of Google shares traded so far today is amongst the highest in the company’s history.

Meanwhile, Google has shelved ideas it has been developing. It’s competitor to Second Life, Lively, has been scrapped – in spite of being launched a couple of months ago. Plus, the company has slowed down recruitment and is scrapping 10,000 contractor positions.

With search itself under threat from social networking and social bookmarking, Google is having to take these steps to ensure survival. But don’t bet on it – after all, you’d never have thought Lehman Brothers would disappear or that Citigroup would need propping up. With the worries at Google, the recession is now clearly starting to bite online; take care.