Archive for the ‘SEO’ Category

Android. Google Earth. Google Maps. Adwords. Adsense. YouTube. Ad Planner. Google News. Google TV. Chrome. Google Docs. Orkut. Picasa. Knol. G-Mail. Google phone (aka non-virtual hardware). Wave. Google 411. Google Images, etc., etc. etc. You get the idea.
Google. First of all, is Google a “them” or an “it”? For conversation sake here, let’s just call them/it Googzilla.
I just finished reading “Googled – The End of the World as We Know It”. Absolutely fascinating. The author, Ken Auletta, gave an interesting inside view of Google that I would say is mostly unbiased, and certainly daunting when you realize how many things Google has its virtual hand in.
The pervading message throughout the book was Google’s ability to abuse their power and knowledge if they ever choose to do the opposite of their corporate mantra, “Don’t be evil”. Yet this message is countered with the consistent theme from founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, also often chimed by Eric Schmidt (Google’s CEO), that they just want to help make interactive technology a great, user friendly, reliable, relevant, safe resource.
But here’s the twist – every step Google takes to be more useful is often because they’ve learned more about us. For example, search relevance improves via behavioral targeting because they’re watching us closer. Our continued diminishing privacy makes the web more convenient for us. Not to mention that opting out is a lot more complicated than opting in. The trillion dollar question is – do we really care?
It comes down to this simple dividing line. There are those who trust Google and those who don’t. And, as long as there are more that do, Google will continue to grow and own the online world. Could that change? Sure. If they mess up. If I had to bet, I’d say they probably won’t. But then again, in spite of all their algorithms, PhD’s, and rocket scientists, they’re only human.
What do you think?
It’s only Tuesday and it’s already been an interesting week. Depending on what news you listen to or read, the economy might be in store for a “good-but-not-great-and-certainly-cash-not-credit” holiday shopping season. With Black Friday just around the corner, this TED talk by John Gerzema of Young and Rubicam seemed like a timely 16-minute video to show my staff today. So I thought I’d pass it along here. John has a great background in consumer behavior and advertising, along with being co-author of a terrific new book, The Brand Bubble.





True story that happened a couple of weeks ago: Just as I was reading the umpteenth article written by a self-proclaimed “social media guru” a good friend of mine in the industry called to say, “I’m so sick of all these gurus”. Laugh, laugh, chuckle, chuckle, what a coincidence, couldn’t agree more, etc.








