My sister-in-law is a wise one. A few years ago she developed a theory about google. She predicted that google would take over the world, which it has. I use google mail, google chrome, and some day I hope to use google wave. I love google. I google all day long. I google things I already know. I google my husband. I google my dad. I google “google.” I google from my computer. I google from my phone. I can actually send a text message to google as if we're buds. I’m a little upset that my spell check doesn’t like the word “google,” but someday it will and google will be in all dictionaries as a “google” noun, “to google” infinitive, maybe a “googlish” adjective. Ode to google and their white, straight-forward home page with current artistic graphics indicating the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street and Guy Fawkes day. Thank you google, for giving me instant gratification from anywhere at any time.
But what is this gratification costing me? Is google encroaching a little too much? I log onto my email today, after writing a recent email about Moab, and I read the banner ad above my email is about Moab vacation rentals. I refresh the page and I see a sale for “Santa Barbara Beach Rent.” That’s strange. So I refresh again and I find information about “I’m Sorry” gift cards and flower deliveries. Could google have read my "I'm sorry" email to Scott a couple days ago? I’m getting a wee bit wary.
I know the answer! They don't read the emails they "code" them. Aka- a computer program looks for a list of key words in your emails and adjusts their advertisements to suit you. Facebook does it too. And now I can do it- thank you Qualitative Research Class.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to read something interesting about google- NYT- google and China scandal. I weep for those in China who may lose their googling abilities.