Professional Googler
A large part of what I do for a living involves using the Google to track down specific facts, numbers, and statistics about the industries or companies that I happen to be looking into that day.
Of course, another large part of what I do during the day involves using Google to read news, send emails, look up friends‘ blogs (I still don’t know how to spell parantheses), check the weather in Minnesota and find the cheapest price of some classic book that I’ve happened to have decided that I can’t go any longer without reading or at least owning.
This has resulted in Google becoming hopelessly confused about me and my interests. Am I a dedicated businessman interested in tools to help me find cash flow information on the high-tech companies in my portfolio? Am I a marketer interested in buying $100k consumer preference datasets? Maybe I’m an 18-year-old myspacer who might like to watch a Coca-Cola sponsored YouTube video about a couple guys spending the week crossing the country in their new Ford Focus. Or a school librarian who needs more tools for cataloging my copies of The Old Man and the Sea and On the Road.
I’ve noticed the Amazon recommendation engine has the same problem. Its suggestions for me involve lots of scholarly studies of international relations and environmental economics (required college reading), a few John Mayer and Dave Matthews CDs (presents for my sister), and The West Wing, Seasons 2-7 (wow Amazon, really going out on a limb on that one, huh? I wonder what tipped you off?).
The point is, because my searches for work are combined with my searches for whatever else it occurs to me to look at, Google can’t seem to get a good read on where the hell I’m going with my life. Google, I feel your pain.
Really, though, most of what Google decides I might want doesn’t seem to match me at all. Google is laughably off-base. Google couldn’t be more wr— wait, how much did you say that book categorization software is? And actually, that dataset might be kind of useful, I should ask my boss if we should buy it and OH MY GOD Google knows me better than I know myself.