Giving Back Your Data

Second Google-related post in a row. We've talked a lot in earlier weeks of class about companies and government branches that collect data about you and eventually use it or sell it. The NSA does it. Facebook does it. Apple does it. Google does it.

But something I noticed is that Google actually does a lot to give you value in exchange for all your data. Some people find it creepy or discomforting that Google collects so much information and knows so much about us just from our emails, Google+ accounts, etc. But they give it back to use in ways that we'd never really notice unless it stopped.

Relevant advertising is an obvious one - if Google knew nothing about me, they'd constantly be serving random ads alongside webpages that have nothing to do with what I'm interested in. But because Google knows what I've search for, and read my emails and learned about me, they can deliver ads that I might be more likely to click. I'd only notice the ads if they were incredibly distracting and irrelevant to my interests.

Google Now is another good one. Google Now is a service into newer (v4.1 or later) Android phones that gives you relevant information before you even search for it, and notifies you in a timely manner. I recently made a video about Google Now, but essentially the only reason it's able to do this is because it knows so much about you. Google knows your GPS location because your phone is in your pocket. If knows how you travel, when you travel and how frequently you travel. It knows when you wake up and when you leave work, and many, many more data points. It gives this all back in a useful way by notifying you when you need to work for your daily commute based on traffic along your typical route. You didn't have to tell Google anything manually. It just knows. That's pretty awesome.

Just a thought. Are there other companies giving back your data like this? Facebook delivers relevant ads too. So does Myspace, I suppose.