SEO / Web Marketing Articles:
How good people can do bad things - A look at Google
Despite Google's public image of being a saint of the Internet, many marketers see it as a root of all evil. I believe that for the most part that Google employs good people who wish to do good things. However, my faith in Google was first tarnished back in fall of 2004 with the Florida update where 86% of the top 10 commercial sites disappeared from the rankings to be replaced by directories and non profit sites. Sites, which reported this information, were removed from Google's index. Doing this right before the Christmas shopping season was a slap in the face of many e-businesses. Google reported record Adwords profits in 2005 just in time for their IPO. Since the IPO, Google acquired many online properties and expanded from being a simple search engine to become something much more. With Google Maps, it knows where you live. With Google Street, it watches you. When Google launched Gmail, it gave users an unprecedented 1 gig of space to store emails allowing users to store every email they'll ever write. With Gmail, it knows what you write about and even shows ads based on what might interest you. Also, when you login with either Google Toolbar or Gmail it knows where you are surfing. With the new Google Phone, it will listen to your every conversation. Google Phone is a brilliant idea allows people to receive calls with one phone number at any location they want. If you miss the call, it records the message and even creates an email version of it. Next on Google's plate is to reinvent email with Google Wave. Google Wave allows people to build conversations as group rather than just between two individuals. It even allows people to track the changes within a conversation so that every step or misstep is tracked. These conversations are real time like instant messenger and incorporate lots of cool functionality. So with Google Wave, it watches us.
Now maybe I got the story all wrong. Probably I sound a little paranoid. These services are all free and maybe Google is just trying to help us. But remember just because you think Google is out to get you, doesn't mean they aren't ;)
Any questions about Google Wave, Google Phone and anything Google, please feel free to contact me at 905-417-9470 or by email at allanp73@gmail.com <- notice the irony in my email address :)