By Maureen Monahan
The New York Times posted an article describing the positive effects Google’s business deal with NBC will have on the company. As described by Miguel Heft and Ben Stelter, the deal will allow Google to “have access to a small slice of the advertising inventory that brings in almost $6 billion a year for NBC Universal. Advertisers will be able to buy time on Sci Fi, which reaches 1.4 million viewers in prime time, as well as lower-rated cable channels.” This “small” bit of advertising is only just the beginning. The article goes on to explain how NBC’s allotment of Google advertisements on popular networks such as MSNBC, CNBC, Sci Fi and Oxygen is a great investment deal for Google, and will end up making them a “force” in television advertising. But as more networks see Google as an advertiser they can work with, Google will surely gain more power through television. Is all this power really better for the consumers?
Now, Google and it’s ad’s are predominantly seen on the internet and that is already causing some controversy in the consumer’s eyes. With each search in our “private” home on our “private” computer, Google is watching us, recording what we search and selling it to advertisers to help better target consumers. Though this may seem harmless, is Google on the road to a more harmful way of accessing information. As Google gains more power through another media, TV ad’s, who knows what Google will be able to target or what information they will be able to access in the future. Though it may seem like a good business deal, will Google’s rise in power be more harmful than helpful? Is it even possible to enact laws on the already blurred lines of privacy and security in our homes? Or is this next move for Google really nothing that anyone should be worried about?
7 Comments
September 18, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I think what Google is doing is something that has already pretty much been going on for the past few years with other companies such as facebook and e-bay and other mass websites. TV channels have been doing this for years and I don’t think having google doing this will be that much more harmful that anything that has already been done. We will have ads geared towards us that we can actually use, which, makes sense. I don’t feel like its an invasion of privacy because it is just a series of computers taking and using the information to benefit themselves, and also us. It will definitely be on a broader scale now with other medias like TV, but I don’t see it being a huge problem.
September 18, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Besides on its own site, I have not noticed any ads for Google online. and to be honest, I think that TV ads are completely unnecessary since Google is one of the most recognized brands across the nation and world (especially world wide web). In addition, Google is a well established Fortune 500 company and was named THE best company to work for by Fortune 500 Magazine in 2007 and 2008, not to mention its incredible stock history. Everyone already loves Google and sees the company as a friend, rather than an evil corporation with a secret agenda. With that image, few people are going to mind the extra ads and internet activity monitoring. In general, Google is a trusted company, even though the corporation has done very little to try to win it’s consumer’s trust.
I think that internet users in general will be ok with this news announcement and future plan, mainly because Google is Google, and not another company with a less heroic image.
September 19, 2008 at 11:14 am
Not necessarily “everyone [...] loves Google and sees the company as a friend, rather than an evil corporation with a secret agenda,” as Melanie Hoffman writes. In the Cathy Davidson essay we read, she mentions on ongoing online project by noted IP scholar, Siva Vaidhyanathan, titled The Googlization of Everything: the process by which, according to Vaidhyanathan’s subtitle “one company is disrupting commerce, culture, and community.”
September 22, 2008 at 2:24 pm
If we look at business trends throughout the course of history, we will notice the presence of monopolies. Google is a monopoly just like MacDonalds and Starbucks. I think that what Sara Pucillo said is exactly right, that “Google is doing is something that has already pretty much been going on for the past few years with other companies”. However, because of the different code in the 2.0 world, the limits of the monopoly are different. Instead of accepting Google’s actions just because Google is a monopoly in the 2.0 world, we should seriously question its actions and how they will affect the future of the internet.
September 24, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Google for us is already one of the most widely used sources in the world. I think it’s safe to say that every student has used it more times than they can count–so I don’t see a need for google to make television advertisements about its site. Yes, it’s a positive business venture for google, and no doubt in this modern age, these ventures from one version of technology to another are becoming more and more common. However, google seems to me as an element of technology that shouldn’t move from the computer browser it is at now. It has already crossed the lines of home privacy, and I don’t see the start of television advertisements as a continuation of that invasion of privacy.
September 29, 2008 at 3:32 pm
The moves made by Google can be seen as good business, expanding and growing into different advertising mediums. However, this move proves that power is corruptable as Google has moved into taking personal information from its users. Of course this personal information may not be someones social security number or bank account, but who really knows. We all have to be careful about what we as users post on the internet. The information we put up is used by companies like Google and Yahoo! to lull us into a sense of false security because we believe that their targeting methods are more personal and effective.
September 29, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Even though NBC’s allotment of Google’s advertisement has raised some issues about the invasion of privacy, NBC is not the first television production company that has aranged such a business deal with an internet company. Many television campanies have intertwined their business plans to include other media sources for their advertisement plans. Google is just another example of an internet company that has decided to post advertisements on their websites. As Sarah mentioned previously, I do not believe Google is using this advertisement deal to monitor us as we browse the web, but rather it is there to aid us in whatever we do. We are exposed to advertisement ads even when we watch tv, so why should it bother us that we are seeing ads once more on the internet. Every time we watch an advertisement ad, it is up to our personal choice whether or not we fall for the ad. People do not fall for every single advertisement that they see so i don’t see the problem in showing more ads on the internet. It may also be more convenient to have ads shown to us on the internet, especially for those of us who do not watch tv.