When you’re Googling something, do you ever stop to think about who else knows you’re Googling it?
Relax, I’m not trying to start any mass paranoia about Big Brother or anything like that. What you search for is probably just between you and Google.
But it is between you and Google. And everything you type into Google, along with everything your Google accounts do, joins Google’s massive pool of information.
Endless Supply of Data…Courtesy of Us
Think of how much information Google is able to collect every day. Between activity in Google accounts, data collected through Google Analytics, and just plain old Googling, internet users yield an astounding amount of information to the company around the clock.
Once this information is gathered, Google can connect the dots and identify trends, which in turn allows the company to make improvements. So by utilizing Google in all its forms, we’re giving the company the information it needs to build itself up even more. And we’re giving them this data free of charge.
Or Are We Returning the Favor?
It’s kind of an eerie feeling to realize that you and everyone else you know is freely giving away important and sometimes personal information to a major company each and every day. Of course, the reason we’re giving it to them is because we’re using their services…which are pretty amazing. Even as just a search engine, Google is top of the line, but when you throw in Gmail, Google Chrome, Google Analytics, Google Earth, Google Docs, Google Alerts…there really are a lot of phenomenal features. And we’re giving Google that information for free while we’re using all of the services Google provides…for free.
Maybe Google’s using us for our data. Or maybe we’re using Google for its powerful capabilities. Or maybe we’re just working together.