My Day With Google Now

Even since the changes to the Google privacy settings earlier this year, I could stay pretty much in the dark about what the data held by Google.
With the introduction of Google Now (scroll to the bottom if you want to know more about what Google Now is) I can’t help but wonder what Google thinks it knows about me and how it will use this to ‘help’.

With this in mind, here’s my imagining of a day, not too far from now,

with my handy Google Now helper by my side.

My Day With Google Now
0730. I’ve got an all-day meeting in a different town and I’m about to leave on foot for the train station. Google Now pops up with information about a traffic jam along my usual car journey to work…but I’m heading somewhere else today.

0800, on the train. Google Now suggests that I might want to buy tickets that have just gone on sale to see my favourite band play live. The problem is that I’m trying to save money this month and therefore doing my best to avoid the temptation of big purchases like gig tickets. In all honesty, I’d rather not know that I’m missing out.

0830, at the train station in an unfamiliar town. Google Now gives me details of the nearest coffee shop because it’s realised I am an hour early for my meeting round the corner, and I’ve used it to search for coffee shops before. Before I saw the suggestion, I was just thinking that I should try and kick my caffeine addiction…knowing how close I am to lovely coffee weakens my resolve.

0845, while in the café (yes, I fell off the wagon). Google Now thinks I might be interested in listening to some jazz, because I like most of the same rock/indie/folk/blues music as my friends, and they’ve all indicated they like jazz too. In reality, I can’t stand jazz. When Google Now suggests that I listen to some jazz, I want to poke it in the eye.

1300, lunchtime. Google Now thinks I want some lunch and gives me local restaurant recommendations based on Google Places listings. In reality – yes, I want lunch, and I am grateful for the help of Google Now.

1730, during the train journey home, Google Now shows me the football scores because I’ve been in the habit of checking them at this kind of time. Spoilers! I’d recorded today’s match and was looking forward to watching it when I got home.

2100, that evening while I’m idly browsing the internet, Google points me towards a YouTube clip of an 80s cartoon because my friends on Google+ have watched it. What Google Now didn’t know is that I’ve always had a phobia of this particular cartoon – which is why my friends had been careful not to share the video anywhere I’d see it.
In Conclusion

So, Google Now is most often compared to Siri but works more like an extension of the in-browser Google Knowledge Graph. Where Siri would remind you that you have an appointment later; Google Now will also volunteer information about travel options and timescales.

As Google say in their announcement, “cards [these snippets of information] appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.” At the moment there are only ten ‘cards’, with more promised to come soon, and they draw on information from your location, past behaviour, other people’s searches and your synced calender (find out more about how it works on this video from Google).

Ok, so it’s not all bad. Given the right approach and flexibility of features, Google Now could be very useful. Their announcement says the user will retain control; but this is vague. If you turn location services off, does that mean you can’t access maps at all? Or by choosing to quickly access maps without changing all your settings, are you allowing these parts of Google Now to offer suggestions?

It’s frustrating when Siri gets things wrong when you ask it to find information or perform a task. I wonder whether it would be more annoying – or less – when this information or action comes unprompted. Given Google’s recent history with making their privacy/accessibility settings ‘all or nothing’, from what I’ve seen so far I might just choose ‘nothing’.

Of course, we wonder what effect this will have on the SEO industry. Never fear – our SEO course is always kept up-to-date with all the most recent changes and exciting developments like this one!