Desire, Google, and a Database
September 28, 2009
The article “Internet Search: Your Secrets Are Not Safe” seemed to be a rehash. But I did find some useful information. For me, the most interesting comment in the article was:
Big daddy Google has over 63 per cent of market share in searches, and the largest ‘desire database’. A version is available on its site where you can compare the popularity, over time, of any two products in any specified location. No absolute figures are offered — they don’t tell you that X brand had 1,000 hits in Mumbai while Y brand had 2,000. They just give out relative shares in a graph. But, make no mistake, they have the figures. This database is the mother lode of consumer profiling. Marketing strategies get a whole new meaning when a dossier of searches reveals the direction of people’s curiosities or needs. Marketing firms have been known to purchase parts of this database. Last year, UK advertising broker Phorma bought millions of personal details from Internet service provider British Telecom to sell to companies interested in online advertising. Most big search engine operators have said that they won’t be selling their database, probably because it is much more valuable if they have a monopoly over it. They can use it to charge a fee from advertisers. A watered-down version of this is already online — the subject-linked ads you see when you open an email message. Management of minds, mediated through machines, may well be at hand.
How does Google Books play into this desire angle? Books provide the knowledge foundation on which desire perches in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, September 28, 2009
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