We had a marketing presentation at work yesterday (all. day. long. 8 straight hours. what.) about Search Engine Optimization. In other words, how to make your products easy-to-find online, and appealing for the consumer to buy. Easier = better, because, in general, we consumers are lazy. If it's too hard to find the price for something we want to order, or if the checkout process is too confusing, we'll probably just give up and go buy it on Amazon.
So! There was a lot of interesting, useful information (for example, adding Google Analytics to your site. Which I used to have before I changed my template... whoops! *readds*).
And there was also some scary information. For example, about the recent Google update, Social Search:
Irritating propaganda aside ("All the goodness you've come to expect of Google"? Is Google a healthy cereal snack now?), this update Creeps. Me. Out. Because it makes me realize how much access major online companies like Google have to everything about us. Not to get all big-brother, but:
They know who I talk to the most on email.
They know what I email about.
They know when I'm looking to rent an apartment, because I'm contacting realtors.
They know what kinds of goods I purchase online the most.
They know who I follow on Twitter.
They know what I post about on Twitter.
They know who my Facebook friends are, and who I talk to on there, and what about.
They know my contact details and preferences through my account settings.
If I used Google Voice, they'd also know who I called and how often and when.
If I used FourSquare or something like it (which I don't, because it's also creepy to me), they'd know where I go, and when.
Um. Frightening?
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the age of information as much as the next person. Querying and finding agents sure is a hell of a lot easier thanks to the internet than it would've been back in the day. Keeping in touch with my friends on other continents is also fantastically easy. But I'm not sure I feel so comfortable about big businesses knowing just about everything about me...
Plus, half of my Gmail "contacts" are the aforementioned slew of realtors. I don't want to see their "recommendations" for whatever I'm Googling, damnit. The chances of any of my Twitter or Facebook friends having relevant information to what I usually search is slim-to-none (since I'm either searching for random factoids for a novel or Googling 'nearest ATM to
YES! Totally agreed!!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a facebook for that exact reason.. and Four square is about the creepiest thing I've ever seen.
I freaked out when I first googled something and saw that the first result was shared on twitter by someone I follow.. Then, while sending an email to my friend, Gmail asked if I also wanted to include 2 other people on that email.. UH NO! Just because the three of us were all on one email at some point, it thinks I should copy them on every email I send to one person.
I think it's also creepy that cell phone companies can GPS track me and my Droid 24 hours a day, but such is life in 2011. I love my phone too much to give it up, lol, but I do try to limit how much of myself is on the internet.
You should read FEED by MT Anderson, it has a lot in about this very kind of thing - a glimpse into the future if you will, and it's not all that pleasant.
ReplyDeleteIt all freaks me out too, which is why I go by an alias for now. Although I should still Google myself to see if my secret identity has been breached... be back in a moment... :)
Nope - I'm still good. :)
ReplyDeleteOh this totally creeps me out. I feel like Google knows way too much about me.
ReplyDelete@Cheyanne -- ohhh yeah, my iPhone has that too. But I am so addicted to the internet, I can't handle not having a smartphone, so I'm stuck with being creepily stalked by AT&T, lol. Foursquare just scares me because you know there are 12 year olds thinking it's the best thing ever, and then any pervs who want to stalk them can be like "oh hey kiddies, I know where you are 24/7!"
ReplyDelete@Angie -- LOVE Feed! and yeah... scarily similar. eep. I keep my Gmail and my blog and my Twitter accounts all separate for this reason. and my Facebook's on a different email account too... *paranoia* but it makes me feel a little better :)
@Carrie me toooo. but at least I'm not a very exciting person for Google to stalk... I try not to buy too much online... lol