#Google’s New Privacy Change Surprised?

Marketers…rejoice! Expect higher return on investments for your ad spending. Google+ users…check your history and unlike any publicly incriminating posts or reviews asap.

Google has announced the integration of Google+ user’s information with advertisements. What this means is that a Google+ user’s profile photo will be used alongside their likes, comments, ratings, and reviews to endorse public ads.

I previously wrote about the Google ‘my way or the highway’ approach to embracing their social media platform, and their latest move is a perfect example of this.  Whether Internet consumers decide to embrace it or not, the tech-company will find a way to monetize their vast information bank. Banking off the knowledge that word of mouth recommendations are the most powerful, friends will now be able to see their connections’ personal endorsement for a product/service.

Although Google has offered a way out of having your personal information being leveraged, privacy advocates are fighting for a change to make it an opt-in feature instead. The very act of having online social profiles or accounts have the potential to threaten privacy, however it has now become common knowledge about the importance of keeping your public activity separate from the private.

Google+ will keep your privately shared information within circles, restricted solely to the authorized viewers, however any other information that user’s allow to be publically accessible will be leveraged.

I have to admit that I am supporting Google in this debate and if anything this announcement should be the millionth wakeup call for the web community.

Are you with Google or privacy-advocates?