As we explained to reporters, the larger issue to be addressed when discussing Google’s Buzz is the role of social media marketing and our privacy. There’s a race to “monetize” our relationships and connections–the so-called social graph. It wasn’t a coincidence that at the same time Google launched books it acquired social media marketing company Aardvark.   Here is an insightful excerpt from this week’s Search Insider:
” …by building its own social tools into the growing user base for Gmail, Apps and iGoogle, Google’s algorithms will be able to see what sorts of conversations, questions or responses you offer not only through email correspondence or in a collaborative exchange on Wave, but also via Aardvark and, by extension, Facebook and Twitter. Which represents an opportunity to serve highly targeted, extremely relevant ads in ways that go well beyond the keyword search.”
