Media

Google Launches New Online Magazine

Chuck Ansbacher | Thursday 24 March, 2011 14:16

My first thought upon hearing that Google just launched an online publication? “I wonder if it’s search engine optimized.”

My second thought? “Weird.”

I use Google’s products A LOT — I have an Android phone, Chrome browser, Gmail account, Calendar, Docs, Reader, Maps, YouTube, etc., etc. I’m hardly unique. Google holds an incredible amount of sway over our daily lives, and we let them. Why? Because we trust them. They are overwhelmingly good at what they do, especially considering the fact that I don’t think I’ve ever paid them for the privilege of using a single one of their offerings. What a concept — what a company.

Such a company, in fact, that it’s often easy to overlook the fact that they are, like all companies, motivated by profit. Since we, their users, aren’t the source of their earnings, we aren’t technically their customers — we are their product. Their customers? Well, they’re the target audience of Google’s new online magazine, Think Quarterly.

This makes Think Quarterly one of two things to you: boring, or illuminating. If you’re like the majority of Google’s users — love the sausage; don’t care how it gets made — Think Quarterly is a snooze fest. Most of the articles are about data, mobile… you’re already asleep.

However, if peeling back a few layers of the onion to reveal what truly motivates Google, their partners and advertisers intrigues you, it’s a fun read. Fun, but weird. Why weird? Because when the layers get peeled back, and Google starts talking “business” and “metrics” and how to transform such things, I’m reminded that Google and I actually have nothing in common, and that they are using me just as much as I use them. It’s a symbiotic relationship — a fact that I am very aware of, but am all too willing to forget.

(via soup and newsgrange)

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