[IP] Google developing ad service for e-mail
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:58:57 -0500
From: Brian Carini <bcarini@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Google developing ad service for e-mail
X-Sender: bcarini@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Dave,
As I understand it, Google will serve contextual ads based on the content
of the email. That means that Google's systems will be reading the content
of each user's email. This open's up a can of interesting privacy
issues. Not only can Google start building a profile on users based on
their email, but it's possible email content clues may be assembled by
advertisers.
Google has always been an perilous but so far untainted player in the
private information space. Previously it has been reported that Google
keep records of every search query with its associated IP address. As a
researcher I'd love to try and see what can be learned from such a
database. Combine this information with an email account and content of a
users email you've got the ingredients of a privacy nightmare.
Last year, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, visited Carnegie Mellon and stated
that the company's coded of conduct has been "Don't be evil". So far this
has kept Google out of trouble. However, Google is soon to go public, and
when that happen's I expect the motto will be replaced with "Maximize
stockholder value".
Best,
Brian Carini
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http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/01/19/google.email.reut/index.html
SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) --Google Inc., which dominates the
market for Web search, is developing a service that could dramatically
extend the reach of its lucrative keyword-based advertising by linking such
ads to e-mail, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Privately held Google, which is expected to go public later this year,
faces rising competition in its core search business from e-mail providers
including Yahoo Inc. and MSN, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet unit.
Adding an e-mail service would provide a potential boost to Google as its
technology lead in the search market seems destined to narrow and it
prepares to answer to growth-hungry shareholders, analysts said.
The Mountain View, California, company, which has recently made several
e-mail related acquisitions, is working on a way to serve advertising to an
e-mail at the moment it is opened, people close to the company said.
"I'm sure Google is getting more and more concerned about locking in users.
It wouldn't surprise me if they did something very sophisticated with
e-mail," said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com, who tracks
the industry.
By moving into e-mail -- the Web's most-used program -- Google would open
up a huge new market for its lucrative "sponsored links" advertising
business that delivers ads tied to keywords in Web searches or on content
pages, analysts said.
Offering its own branded e-mail -- whether for free or with enhanced
services like spam filtering -- would also enable Google to tie users more
closely to its search site and to steal customers from rivals, they said.
In an e-mail response to questions from Reuters, spokesman David Krane
said, "Google has a number of projects in the works to test monetization in
various scenarios.
"In fact, Google's AdSense contextual ads are already used in a number of
e-mail newsletters," he said.
Going portal?
Google has for years said it would not turn its site into a full-service
Internet portal like Yahoo or MSN. However, since it opened in 1998, Google
has added portal-style discussion groups and is testing a comparison
shopping site called Froogle, as well as a news site.
Google late last year purchased rival Sprinks, which had technology to
deliver ads to e-mail as the messages were opened. Such real-time ad
serving is important because it keeps ads fresh and insures that Google
will not be giving away free ads or delivering ads nobody will see,
industry participants said.
Kanoodle, a small privately held search company, in the coming weeks will
roll out its own e-mail advertising product as part of its deal with CBS
MarketWatch.com, said Lance Podell, Kanoodle's president of search and content.
Under that deal, "sponsored link" ads will be served to MarketWatch's
opt-in subscriber e-mails, including newsletters.
Experience with sponsored links
Google already knows how to deliver its sponsored link ads -- which are in
the form of Web links and appear on the perimeter of Web pages -- to e-mail
newsletters and content sites.
Furthermore, Google last year purchased an e-mail management software maker
and in 2001 registered the domain name googlemail.com.
Some in Silicon Valley also believe Google could be preparing to launch
free e-mail to compete with offerings from Yahoo and MSN's Hotmail.
"If they were to go the e-mail route they'd have to provide an offering
that competes with free [e-mail]. Anti-spam is one form of strong
differentiation," said Jim Pitkow, chief executive of Moreover
Technologies, whose personalized search company Outride was acquired by
Google in 2001.
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