Google tracks an insane amount of user information, but up until now, things like search and YouTube history were kept separate from web page and app data. Not anymore.
The real-life Hooli is launching a service that pools all of its data across both web and mobile, which should provide a huge boost to the company’s ads business.
Digital advertisers have been wanting the ability to track customers from desktop to mobile and back for a while now. Here it is, fellas.
Oh great, Google’s gonna know even more about me now…
Well, wait. Hold on a second. It appears Google is quite aware of its reputation as a “data collector” and of the trending privacy concerns in the tech sector...because they’re giving users total control on this one.
First off, you have to opt-in. You’ll likely see a notification in Gmail or Chrome regarding a new privacy update. Once you do, you can “block particular ads carte blanche” if you aren’t feeling them. Privacy advocates love that.
And most importantly, a new site called My Activity lets users view all of their Google activity (from which ads will be personalized) and delete anything they don’t want to, well, exist. Check it out only if you want to confirm how much time you waste on YouTube.
Meanwhile…
In some distant corner of Google’s Mountain View campus, the Google Plus team celebrated their social network’s 5th birthday!
No word on whether or not the platform’s seven daily active users were invited for cake. :P
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