WSI Digital Marketing Consultant – We Simplify the Internet

It’s getting easier and easier to throw stones at big companies these days (not to mention our government). We’re still sore from the recent financial collapse and now Google and Facebook have to start making moves that threaten what some would call our innate rights to personal privacy.

Excuse me if I’m sounding cynical or militant, but I woke up to a couple pieces of news that set me off this morning.

First was the announcement by Market Samurai that they had lost the functionality of some key features of their service because of recent changes made by Google. Market Samurai provides keyword and search based data for internet marketing purposes, and they are not alone. Many other companies also do the same thing, and have also been impacted by the recent changes. In fact, the business of gathering, sorting, filtering and providing search data culled from the likes of Google, Yahoo!, Bing, et al, represents a rather large industry. And I can’t help think that while Google is fully aware of this, they are also a bit upset that someone else has figured out a way to monetize their services in a way that they don’t make a dime from.

Again, sorry for sounding cynical, but now get this…

The second thing that hit me this morning was the following article on the Washington Post Blog…
Google’s no-opt-out privacy changes and the end of the anonymous Internet

If you don’t feel like clicking off to read another article before you finish reading this one, here’s a short quote…

Google announced Tuesday its plans to integrate data from all its services with your profile for logged-in Google+ users. As usual, they sounded chipper about it: “We can provide reminders that you’re going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day.”

In other words, they are going to start tracking, predicting and attempting to influence as many of your daily activities as they possibly can – whether you like it or not. Call me a prude, but I find that to be just a little bit invasive, not to mention presumptuous.

And let’s not forget about Facebook’s recent IPA announcement. Now that they’ve captured more than 800 million active users (securing their place as the third largest nation in the world, between India and the United States) along with all the demographic information those users have freely shared about themselves, Facebook has now decided to get serious about making money. They’ve sucked us in with their cute and free offerings of group sharing, picture galleries, status updates and now they are after our cash!

Okay, okay, I hear you thinking, “This guy’s nuts!” But the point to be made here is about our personal privacy. I don’t think anyone who has created a profile, joined a group or posted a video ever consciously thought to themselves, “I would really like this huge company to know a lot more about me.” But we’ve got these two massive companies who now have the power to not only track, but also predict our behavior with fairly reasonable accuracy. And, the fact is that we freely gave them that power.

Now, I’m not saying any of this is good or bad. But is it what we really wanted or intended?

Since the dawn of time, throughout the growth of mankind, we have experienced an evolutionary seesaw characterized by periods of rich social growth alternating with periods of great technological development. It’s gone something like this…

Perhaps the earliest technological developments were the the discovery of fire, followed by the invention of the lever, the wheel and other early tools.

Then came a shift towards greater social development embodied by prehistoric art forms, cave paintings and sculptures, as well as pyramids, and temples designed to facilitate specific rituals and celebrations.

The seesaw then shifted back toward more technological growth with the development of metallurgy during the Bronze and the Iron ages.

As we continued to step forward in time, the Renaissance, a time known for great artistic expression and philosophical enlightenment, marked a shift back to social development.

Then another shift back towards technological advancement occurred during the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the invention and use of machines changed peoples lives, changed our world.

Next, anyone remember the 1960′s? The heart of the 20th century saw technology once again take a back seat to widespread social growth and enlightenment, in many ways, similar to the Renaissance.

And now, as we move into the 21st century, the pendulum once again swings the other way as we witness technological advances outpacing social progress.

But wait a minute… Have we now broken this age old cycle? Has the development of Social Technology caused the growth of our Society to become merged with the advancement of Technology? Has the pendulum stopped swinging? Have we evolved into a society where the ways in which we communicate, interact and express ourselves have become inextricably intertwined with technology?

Furthermore, will we ever progress beyond the ilk of Facebook to something more fulfilling, more meaningful? And if so, what could that possibly be, and when will it happen?

While we may not have direct answers to any of the above questions, we can all agree that technology will always play a role in shaping our future. But without a social purpose, technology becomes… well, just flat technical, and nothing more.

Hopefully, we are evolving towards a place where we don’t just have faster smartphones with better touch screens, but where our lives are actually impacted in a positive way. Where we are more enriched, enlightened and fulfilled.

In his work life, these are the kinds of issues that appeared to concern Steve Jobs on a regular basis. He was clearly able to see beyond mere technology to something bigger. Not just cool new electronic devices, but something that ultimately, actually improved our lives. Steve was a true visionary and he will be greatly missed. Let’s all continue where he left of and keep striving for something greater. What do you say?