Google Acquires World
Maybe this title is a little misleading, but it does seem like Google is working its way into any market it can. On the 22nd Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said that it’s goal was to obtain more personal data to make search more relevant to each user. But a lot of people are noticing that there’s a fine line between personalization and privacy intrusion. Even major media outlets are commenting on this issue.
Almost every time Google buys a company or starts a service there is always a way for them to collect data on you and get a better picture of who you are and what you like. On one hand this is great for the user who will get better search results and see ads their interested in, but Google on the other hand also wins. They make more money from relevant ads. With the recent confirmation of the acquisition of FeedBurner, Google can now compile data about what people are blogging about (Blogger), analytics on subscribers and publishers (FeedBurner), and track what blogs an individual reads (Google Reader).
Is the benefit of finding information more easily, and having it customized to your interests, worth Google knowing everything about you? As long as Google follows it’s philosophy, “do no evil,” then the end user will continue to see benefits. Respecting privacy is the biggest issue for Google and will become an even larger issue as they work their way into more markets.
What’s next for Google? Will they see any of the data from 23andme? A Google Phone, or not? Or maybe they’ll start printing relevant AdWords on credit card statements?
Take a look below at some of the areas besides search Google has moved into.
Advertising - Online:
AdWords/AdSense
Acquired Doubleclick
Advertising - Offline:
AdWords printed in newspapers (Chicago Sun-Times)
Advertising - Video Games:
Acquired AdScape
E-mail:
Gmail
Video:
Acquired YouTube
Blogging:
Google Reader
Acquires Pyra Labs (Blogger) and possibly FeedBurner
Wiki:
Acquires JotSpot
Mapping:
Google Maps/Earth
Acquires Where2 and Keyhole
Photo:
Acquires Picasa
E-commerce:
Google Checkout
Applications:
Google Apps
Acquires UpStartle and 2Web Technologies
Data and Analytics:
Google Analytics/Webmaster Tools
Acquires Trendalyzer
