Know what Google knows about you?

BokehBokeh Member Posts: 1,636 ■■■■■■■□□□

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  • tpatt100tpatt100 Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
    I think this change is pretty cool though
    Andreas Tuerk, a Google product manager, described the new feature as something that "helps you better understand and manage your information on Google." For example, Tuerk says Account Activity can help users see if anyone has been signing into their Google accounts on locations where they don't visit or from devices they don't own, and thus give them the ability to change their password to stop unauthorized use.
    The Account Activity feature is part of Google's broader effort to make sure users are more comfortable with the company's new privacy policies that allow for sharing of user data across multiple Google services. Google has maintained that these new policies will benefit users by providing them with more relevant advertising that comes from a broader variety of data on a given user's Internet behavior. Google insists that it is not selling users' data to outside parties and says that users can always sign out of their Google accounts if they don't want their searches tracked and used for personalized advertising.
  • ClaymooreClaymoore Member Posts: 1,637
    But is targeted advertising really effective?

    Right now I am seeing an ad, that I assume Google is serving up to TE, for a Temper-Pedic mattress. Evidently Google knows that I was researching mattresses a couple of months ago. What they don't know is that I bought a new mattress 6 weeks ago (a Simmons) and won't be in the market for another one for about 25 years. Yesterday I saw ads everywhere for vacation offers from Disney. Google knows I was on Disney's site but doesn't know that I am an annual passholder, so I don't need tickets, and I have plenty of Marriott points for free hotel stays, so I don't need resort offers. Really not sure what Google is trying to sell me with these ads.
  • ChooseLifeChooseLife Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
    Just below your posting is a banner advertising a site that I googled and then spent some time on couple weeks ago. I am done with the site now, but the ad is following me everywhere, including Youtube and unrelated places, like TE, and this is (a) annoying, (b) indiscrete, (c) creepy.
    “You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896

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  • tpatt100tpatt100 Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Claymoore wrote: »
    But is targeted advertising really effective?

    Right now I am seeing an ad, that I assume Google is serving up to TE, for a Temper-Pedic mattress. Evidently Google knows that I was researching mattresses a couple of months ago. What they don't know is that I bought a new mattress 6 weeks ago (a Simmons) and won't be in the market for another one for about 25 years. Yesterday I saw ads everywhere for vacation offers from Disney. Google knows I was on Disney's site but doesn't know that I am an annual passholder, so I don't need tickets, and I have plenty of Marriott points for free hotel stays, so I don't need resort offers. Really not sure what Google is trying to sell me with these ads.

    Yeah I think some research has already shown that target ads don't work. I get banner ads for Star Wars The Old Republic constantly, yet I am a current subscriber. I get ads for the iRobot Roomba which I already bought, etc.
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