As I sat in the doctor’s waiting room, I spied a copy of O, The Oprah Magazine, which blared a headline I couldn’t miss: “You are an excellent woman!” Needless to say, I don’t resemble so much as a mediocre woman -- I couldn’t even pass the physical.
We’ve all grown accustomed to seeing (and ignoring) messages that aren’t for us, but the Web is threatening to overturn that cozy world, starting with personalized search results.
You might not be aware that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and other search engine suppliers are in a mad frenzy to customize results for each searcher. It’s a relatively recent trend, but each search engine supplier is experimenting with providing different search results for different searchers.
For decades, search engine providers have been analyzing the keywords searchers enter and dissecting Web pages and other content, obsessing over what each word means, all to better match the searchers’ words with that elusive content. Overlooked until recently is that different searchers mean different things when they search for the same words.
For example, when someone searches for “security,” do they mean “home security, “homeland security,” “computer security,” or something else entirely? Does the searcher looking for “neon light” want an outdoor sign or a replacement lamp for a Chrysler Neon? No amount of content inspection will tell you, but knowing more about who those searchers are might reveal some clues.
So after years of pursuing linguistics and link analysis and hundreds of other techniques to better analyze the words, search engine providers are falling over themselves to learn more about the searchers themselves. That’s why Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) wants to help you track your stocks, and why Google wants to give you Gmail for free. Dozens of initiatives by the search companies in recent years are designed to understand you better.
Each time you accept a free service from a search engine, that search engine is granted permission to use the information it gathers. You give your permission when you accept the terms of use for the service -- it’s all in that agreement that you never read.
Every search company knows that tailoring search results to each individual could result in a breakthrough in relevance, leading to huge advertising revenues. Imagine if search engines could tell the difference between a bargain hunter and a shoot-from-the-hip timesaver type. When each one searches for “digital camera,” the bargain hunter might be shown sales and other discounts (or ads for coupons) at the top of his search results. Perhaps the timesaver type might be shown the trendy cameras with top reviews. Marketers might even be able to pay to find out which customer is which, as shoppers come to the marketer’s Website to possibly complete their purchases.
Perhaps all this strikes you as Orwellian, but it’s increasingly difficult to avoid search engine snooping -- you'd have to stop using Google, Flickr , YouTube Inc. , and lots of other free services -- and it’s even harder to learn what the search engines already know about you.
One thing: Search engine suppliers are extremely concerned that a public backlash over privacy could kill this golden egg before it even hatches, so they have an incentive to use the data they collect carefully. They are betting that they’ll provide such better search results and ads that you’ll be willing to make the privacy tradeoff. Time will tell if they are right.
For me, I’ll be happy the minute a search engine knows I’m not such an excellent woman.
— Mike Moran, author Do It Wrong Quickly, is a speaker and consultant on Internet marketing
And if you've asked your phone to tell you when you are near a Starbucks, would Dunkin' Donuts offer you a free coffee to try them out? How much would Verizon get paid by Dunkin' Donuts to tell them who wants to be alerted about Starbucks? And would a free coffee be enough for you to be willing for Verizon to tell Dunkin' that information? There are many questions to be worked out for mobile search, but there's no doubt that it is coming.
This is an idea that's been bandied about for years, but so far the most intelligent stuff has been provided for free by advertisers, rather than for sale by someonw who will allow you to protect your information. Will this market emerge someday? Possibly, but I've seen precious little. The technology is not the problem, but like many other things, people might be willing to give up some privacy to get something for nothing.
...would be more effective, yes? Whatever happened to the development of automated "agents" that would go out and find what you need? Aren't PCs powerful enough now to support this kind of software? My agent would live on my PC, and know what I want, becuase I tell it what I like, and it watches what I do. All while this information stays on my own computer, not on some random server on the internet. Agents could even use anonymizing networks to conceal our identities from marketers, scammers, and other spies. With speech-recognition software tailored to the individual user, this would bring us closer to having a true "electronic valet" who takes our orders, disappears, and comes back with results.
Yahoo, Google and other online companies really know that users don't pay much attention to the amount of information contained in the terms of egreement. That is what they are exploiting to bind users to their will. Even if it not easy to avoid that(except we avoid using the internet), we should fight to preserve our privacy and not always let the search engines impose their destructive law in the name of better search.
Hello Mike!I was really enjoying reading your post!Never thought about it!For me it looks a little bit scary not in terms of privacy, but it looks like search engines are becoming reall artificial intelligence. I understand, that it is all based on the features of analyses but it looks like somebody could really know what do I prefer and what will I like.Sometimes I don't know what will I like tomorrow even by myself.So it is a little bit scary that some "little green man" inside of the Internet knows so much about me:))))
I'm certainly not against your roamings and /or wanderings on the internet but that should not serve as an hindrance to search engine making themselves more relevant for users. Not long ago we were battering search engines for overwhelming us with search results that sucks and have no relevance to what we are looking for. Now we are shouting about privacy and roaming on the internet when the search engines are just trying to make life much easier and comfortable for us.
This is in no way trying to constrict the internet for you. I have always have time to roam about the internet but there are many occassions when your schedule is tight and you want specific results quickly and don't get suck up in some bizzare search results.So as the internet becomes more enlarge information wise, let's appreciate novel search ideas that can make our internet experience exciting, enjoyable and appropiate.
For the privacy advocates, i could only say they should construct another internet where the concerns can be address!!!
Well, if better or rather more user specific results are the benefit of this new technology, I am not so sure I want it. Privacy issues asside, I actually enjoy getting losts in my searches. I don't want the vastness of the internet to be tunneled into specifics for me. I want the option to remain open, and to be exposed to things I wasn't actually looking for.
While I agree that there are users who are looking for something specific, and the tailored results may make them happier and able to spend their monies faster, there are some of us that like to wander through cyberspace, aimlessly, who forget what they were originally searching for and find interesting diversions. Maybe I was looking for a light for my Neon, but hey, what I really want is that neon light for my backyard tiki bar. So, I still spend money, but it is more fun.
The Internet was originally developed as an information sharing technology. Ever since it was launched, it has been used to develop new business models. Personally, I like both uses. I love shopping on the internet, but I also love the never ending thread of information that I can access. I hope the search engines never get so specific as to deprive me of my wanderings.
A user feedback system in place just might provide more relevant results than 'snooping' to forecast what they're thinking in my opinion. It's not that difficult to type in a separate query with a new set of keywords or putting the keywords in quotes etc. I only have a few categories where the results truly suck when searching Google, and that's when I'm looking for discography and search with Artist name, or when I'm looking up medical data such as 'symptoms' which is currently a nightmare as it'll either add to hypochondria or is too easy of a dismissal...either way, it sucks.
I don't doubt that the behemoths will take the best path. Dr. Know from A.I. isn't too far away anyhow.
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My granny always told me to stop and smell the roses before you are pushing them up. But we Internet marketing pundits don’t like to stop for anything. We throw opinions out the minute something happens, when sometimes it’s best to look at the bigger picture. Now that we are a few weeks removed from the announcement of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Buzz, can we put all these opinions in perspective and learn the bigger lesson?
You might have heard about the concept of augmented reality -- a way of adding a technological overlay to real life. Even if the name is new to you, you've probably seen it in action, perhaps when you saw the superimposed first-down lines during the Super Bowl telecast. I first noticed augmented reality used in marketing when I saw different messages at different times on the same billboard behind home plate during a baseball game, only realizing later that the billboard messages were generated only for the TV audience by a computer, which made it appear that the ads were located on a fence at the stadium.
Recently, I wrote about the need to identify our Internet marketing personalities to help adapt to the fact that we’re always stuck trying something new in this business.
When you were a kid, you might have had an imaginary friend, or you might have known someone who did. It's the kind of thing that is a natural part of child development.
If we’ve learned nothing else about Internet marketing, it’s that the easiest way to make a splash is with something free. Business after business on the Web has come out with something free to build mindshare in the hopes that it will lead to market share.
Getting to Work on Smart Work: How IT Is Transforming the Implementation of the 'Internet of Things' Organizations in all industry sectors are becoming more instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent -- and that's changing the way they approach virtually every facet of their operations. It's up to IT to help organizations adopt a "Three I's" approach that leverages the emerging Internet of Things and enables them to work smarter. READ THIS eBOOK
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What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
Steve Saunders talks about the risks inherent in uncontrolled, widespread profiling of Internet users, and how one day this practice could form the basis of a new industry, the Outernet, which in economic terms will have outgrown the commercial value of the Internet itself.
Search companies and social networks are collecting incredibly detailed information about their users, says Steve Saunders, who predicts that these 'profiles' could one day become commodities to be bought and sold by companies on 'profile markets' or 'identity exchanges’ – the digital DNA equivalents of the financial and commodities exchanges on which stocks, oil, and gold are traded.
One of the most important Internet issues of all time is being ignored by the media. In this three-part video series Steve Saunders explains how search companies are turning the tables on their users by creating user profiles for financial gain, and how soon this trend will explode into full scale profiling.
The big news at the Web 2.0 Summit was that Twitter partnered with Google and Bing, enabling the search engines to show Tweets in search results. This couldn't possibly be less interesting.
In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
There's a public-policy war on copyright that nobody is winning, and inconsistencies in viewpoint and interpretation seem to be multiplying. We need to step back and think our policies over again, or we risk having a strategy that fails everyone.
Ultraviolet is an industry-wide attempt to standardize video content delivery across multiple platforms. Apart from the fact that it’s based in the cloud, relies on the DRM system, and isn’t backed by Apple… it sounds great!
The FCC's Sixth Broadband Report has a hidden secret. But here’s a hint: The regulatory body plans to regulate broadband as a telecommunications service.
Once defined by epic journeys, planning, and maps, the phrase "on the road" takes on new meaning in a digital age, where we can make all our decisions using our connected devices en route.
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