• Big Tech
  • Military
  • China
  • Govt
  • Tech
    • Social
    • Web
    • Mobile
    • Science
  • Business
  • UFO
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
The Sociable
  • Big Tech
  • Military
  • China
  • Govt
  • Tech
    • Social
    • Web
    • Mobile
    • Science
  • Business
  • UFO
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
HomeSocial MediaIf Facebook wanted us to be scared of Google, why didn’t they just show us this?
May. 14, 2011 at 12:08 am
Social Media

If Facebook wanted us to be scared of Google, why didn’t they just show us this?

Piers Dillon ScottPiers Dillon Scott10 years ago7 CommentsbloggersFacebookfelicia daygmailgoodreadsGooglegoogle accountgoogle buzzgoogle chatgoogle circlesgoogle profilegoogle readerGoogle Social Connections and Searchprivacyprivacy concernssocial networkSocial Networkingsocial searchSocial Websocial webTwitter
Google Buzz
Credit:Google
3.41Kviews
Google Buzz
Credit:Google

Yesterday Facebook was caught out using underhand tactics to pitch major bloggers and the press against Google.  Facebook accused Google of “scraping and mining social sites ” for information about millions of users.

But did they have a point?

You might not know it but Google has been building a personal index of your social networking connections that is so detailed it even knows who your friends are friends with.

Facebook’s accusations centre on Google’s Social Connections and Search site which indexes each users’ connections to friends across Google’s services such as Gmail, Buzz, Google Profiles and the web.  Even if you don’t have a Google account but do have a social networking account you can appear on a user’s index of connections.

Google Social Search Index Page
Sample Google Social Search Page. Click for larger view

If you have a Google Account, including a Gmail account, you can see Google’s index of your online social circle by visiting http://www.google.com/s2/u/0/search/social. You will need to be logged into your Google Account to view the index.

Google’s index of your contacts lists your connections in three ways.

  1. Direct connections from Google Chat and Contacts
    This list is created from your Gmail Chat, Google Reader and Contacts list.
  2. Direct connections from links through Google Profiles or Connected accounts
    This list is created from sites you link to on your Google Profile account.  If you don’t have a Google Profile but have connected your Twitter profile to your Buzz account then Google indexes your Twitter followers here.
  3. Secondary Connections
    This list contains the names of users who are connected to any of the people linked to in the first two lists (i.e friends of friends).

The lists also shows the sites, such as Twitter or GoodReads, that connects users to each other.

Why does Google collect this information?

Google uses this information to customise search results for users, which it says “helps you discover relevant content from your social connections…[which] is sometimes more relevant and meaningful to you than content from any random person.”

Is this an invasion of privacy?

Probably not; the information here is publically available and in many cases comes from information you give to Google through their social sites (Buzz, Google Profile etc).  What this index does, that is perhaps borderline, is make it easy to find information, you might not have otherwise come across, about someone.

For example I follow Felicia Day on Twitter and according to the information in my social connections index she has a GoodReads account, which I didn’t know.  This information is in the public domain, if I wished I could have found her GoodReads account by doing a simple search.

But now I don’t have to, Google lists the information for me.

However, what is concerning is that Google’s index also connects me to over 320 people who are friends or followers of Felicia Day. I have never contacted nor met any of these people.

Some Felicia Day connections on Google Social Search
Some Felicia Day connections on Google Social Search. Click for larger view.

So what?

It is certainly a shock seeing the huge amount of information Google can collect about each user through just a few links.  According to my index I am connected to over 1800 people through my Google and social networking profiles.

Google is not doing anything underhanded by creating this index, after all it is a search engine (although Facebook accused it of violating several sites’ Terms of Service agreements).  But displaying this information in this way raises some questions about user privacy -not least, what exactly is private on the public social web?

Tags :bloggersFacebookfelicia daygmailgoodreadsGooglegoogle accountgoogle buzzgoogle chatgoogle circlesgoogle profilegoogle readerGoogle Social Connections and Searchprivacyprivacy concernssocial networkSocial Networkingsocial searchSocial Websocial webTwitter
share on Facebookshare on Twitter
show 7 comments

7 Comments

  1. Avatar AxelleBlackmar says:
    May 14, 2011 at 4:44 PM

    I don’t when will facebook stop this ugly strategy. It reveals an element that many analysts explain currently who proves that facebook truly knows that the competition with Google is already lost ! Facebook will never be an essential element of the web landscape. The social network is still surfing on a trend wave and will never be useful like Google can be. Moreover, the firm knows that new social networks (like Outlyf.com especially) can be more useful and could sweep facebook very quickly. That”s why Facebook uses this strategy but it s not good for the image of the website… bye bye facebook

    Reply
  2. Avatar AxelleBlackmar says:
    May 14, 2011 at 4:44 PM

    I don’t when will facebook stop this ugly strategy. It reveals an element that many analysts explain currently who proves that facebook truly knows that the competition with Google is already lost ! Facebook will never be an essential element of the web landscape. The social network is still surfing on a trend wave and will never be useful like Google can be. Moreover, the firm knows that new social networks (like Outlyf.com especially) can be more useful and could sweep facebook very quickly. That”s why Facebook uses this strategy but it s not good for the image of the website… bye bye facebook

    Reply
    1. Avatar pdscott says:
      May 15, 2011 at 9:33 PM

      @AxelleBlackmar Techchrunch made a good point in saying that no one could accuse Google of being cowardly when confronting its competition, eg its Bing Sting (http://bit.ly/iYi5pY). The problem is that Facebook had a point, it just made it so badly.

      It will be interesting to see the longterm lifespan of the social web, I could easily imagine that the next generation of social web users will not want to be on the same social networking sites as their parents. And this is the logic Google in employing as it creates its social layer. By providing other products to users of its essential services, such as Gmail, Google has a greater chance of keeping users than a social entertainment form such as Facebook.

      Reply
  3. Avatar pdscott says:
    May 15, 2011 at 9:33 PM

    @AxelleBlackmar Techchrunch made a good point in saying that no one could accuse Google of being cowardly when confronting its competition, eg its Bing Sting (http://bit.ly/iYi5pY). The problem is that Facebook had a point, it just made it so badly.

    It will be interesting to see the longterm lifespan of the social web, I could easily imagine that the next generation of social web users will not want to be on the same social networking sites as their parents. And this is the logic Google in employing as it creates its social layer. By providing other products to users of its essential services, such as Gmail, Google has a greater chance of keeping users than a social entertainment form such as Facebook.

    Reply
  4. Avatar davidknowles2 says:
    May 16, 2011 at 6:47 PM

    I personally do not mind this, in fact it just google providing something Facebook would love to provide but does not have the technical know how and or resources and agreements in place to do so.

    The only reason Facebook tried to set up this sting was try and slow down or stop google from launching it social tools in the near and Facebook failed in that completly. In fact I am pretty sure Social circle which is a hidden feature have got a lot more people looking and using it over the last couple of days.

    In fact given the timing I pretty sure this sting operation by Facebook was design to sabotage any social launch at Google I/0, of cause there was no such announcement, so it damage Facebook a lot more than it damage Google.

    I look forward to see where google goes with this powerful tool in the future.

    Reply
  5. Avatar davidknowles2 says:
    May 16, 2011 at 6:47 PM

    I personally do not mind this, in fact it just google providing something Facebook would love to provide but does not have the technical know how and or resources and agreements in place to do so.

    The only reason Facebook tried to set up this sting was try and slow down or stop google from launching it social tools in the near and Facebook failed in that completly. In fact I am pretty sure Social circle which is a hidden feature have got a lot more people looking and using it over the last couple of days.

    In fact given the timing I pretty sure this sting operation by Facebook was design to sabotage any social launch at Google I/0, of cause there was no such announcement, so it damage Facebook a lot more than it damage Google.

    I look forward to see where google goes with this powerful tool in the future.

    Reply
  6. Google+1 how does it work? | Matteo Grasso says:
    September 22, 2011 at 5:31 PM

    […] steadily becoming more evident and will continue to be beneficial to more websites in the future.The Google+1 feature is an innovation by Google that focuses on sharing website content and recommen…based on recommendations or +1 from your contacts. It can be compared to its predecessor – Google […]

    Reply

Leave a Response Cancel reply

Piers Dillon Scott

Piers Dillon Scott

Piers Dillon-Scott is co-editor of The Sociable and writes about stuff he finds. He likes technology, media, and using the Oxford comma (because it just makes sense).
view all posts
BT all-Ireland profits up 11%, network is “key enabler”
Initiative to get Ireland trending on Twitter during Obama’s state visit #IRLday

You Might Also Like

covid digital health passport
Government and PolicyTechnology

UK think tank is crowdsourcing evidence on digital health passport risks & benefits for government rollouts

Tim HinchliffeTim Hinchliffe2 weeks ago
twitter blue badge verification
Big TechSocial Media

Twitter to strip blue checks from some accounts, add new verification criteria in policy update

Tim HinchliffeTim Hinchliffe2 months ago
twitter disputed election
Big TechSocial Media

If Twitter really wants to give ‘links to a broader conversation’ on disputed posts, why not show both sides?

Tim HinchliffeTim Hinchliffe2 months ago
brains byte back social media
Social Media

Understanding the dangers of social media (podcast)

Sam Brake GuiaSam Brake Guia2 months ago
censorship disputed election
Big TechGovernment and PolicySocial Media

Facebook & Twitter CEOs to testify on big tech censorship during ‘disputed’ presidential election

Tim HinchliffeTim Hinchliffe3 months ago
great reset crisis exploit
Government and PolicyTechnology

A skeptical look at the ‘great reset’: a technocratic agenda that waited years for a global crisis to exploit

Tim HinchliffeTim Hinchliffe3 months ago
  • Popular
  • Recent

Neurodata Lab, partners with Promobot demonstrating important strides towards the goal of developing empathetic AI

2 years ago

Horasis And KPMG Announce 2018 Indian Business Leaders Of The Year

3 years ago

‘Selfitis’: Obsessive selfie taking as a real disorder and the fake news stories that inspired its research

3 years ago

The Economic Impacts of Innovation

3 years ago

Changing the ‘chatter’ of our inner voice from destructive to productive (podcast)

19 hours ago
social credit score

Globalists embrace leveraging social media, location & behavioral data for alternative credit scoring

4 days ago
Photo credit: Publicize

Apply to showcase your startup at Connect: Creative

7 days ago
covid passport travel

WHO says govts shouldn’t use COVID passports for international travel as public & private sectors prep rollouts

1 week ago

Tech and Society




Brains Byte Back
Brains Byte Back
The weekly podcast looking at how our brains, psychology, and society are impacted by the ever-evolving technology that surrounds us. Every Monday we bring you the best stories and guests from around the world relating to technology, psychology, and society.

Podcast Subscription Menu

  • Visit Website
  • RSS Feed
Changing The 'Chatter' Of Our Inner Voice From Destructive To Productive
by Sam Brake Guia

As Elon Musk’s Neuralink and other implantable brain-machine interfaces continue to advance, it seems like we will soon be living in a world where our mind can control everything.

But before we reach this future, it is important for us to first understand our own minds, how they work, and how to control them. In this episode, we will explore the power and importance of our inner voice.

To better understand the chatter in our heads, we are joined by Ethan Kross, an award-winning professor at the Psychology department of the University of Michigan. He is also the author of the new book CHATTER: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, which comes out today.

In this episode, we discuss the TED talk “Mind Control: How to win the war in your head” and why our inner voice can often be very negative. We also look at how we can change this, shaping our inner dialogue to become more positive, thus creating the basis of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

In addition to this, you will learn how meditation influences our inner voice, his work relating to social media and well-being, why using our name when talking with ourselves can help us overcome difficult situations. Kross also explains how he uses mental time travel to put problems into perspective.

Changing The 'Chatter' Of Our Inner Voice From Destructive To Productive
Changing The 'Chatter' Of Our Inner Voice From Destructive To Productive
January 26, 2021
Sam Brake Guia
Social Media and our Psychology (Don't Worry, We'll Talk It Out)
January 19, 2021
Sam Brake Guia
Brain Plasticity: How Technology, Environments, and Language Change Our Brains
January 12, 2021
Sam Brake Guia
Software That Predicts Employee Burnout Through Language
January 5, 2021
Sam Brake Guia
Brains Byte Back: The Best of 2020
December 29, 2020
Sam Brake Guia
Increasing Happiness With Evidence-Based Techniques
December 22, 2020
Sam Brake Guia
Heuristics: How Our Mental Short Cuts Can Mislead Us
December 15, 2020
Sam Brake Guia
The gift-giving AI for businesses that increases sales by 40x
December 7, 2020
Sam Brake Guia
Building A More Efficient, Privacy-Focused Future With Smart Cities
November 30, 2020
Sam Brake Guia
Understanding the Dangers of Social Media
November 23, 2020
Sam Brake Guia
Search Results placeholder

popular posts

Neurodata Lab, partners with Promobot demonstrating important strides towards the goal of developing empathetic AI

2 years ago

Horasis And KPMG Announce 2018 Indian Business Leaders Of The Year

3 years ago

‘Selfitis’: Obsessive selfie taking as a real disorder and the fake news stories that inspired its research

3 years ago

Recent posts

  • Changing the ‘chatter’ of our inner voice from destructive to productive (podcast) January 26, 2021
  • Globalists embrace leveraging social media, location & behavioral data for alternative credit scoring January 22, 2021
Espacio Medellín Media Incubator
Work with Us
Jobs @ Espacio Media Incubator
2018 Espacio Media Incubator, All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2017