Now your friends will be able to see your profile and recommendations while viewing Google ads.
Google’s new ‘Terms of Service’ allows your photos and comments about any Google products like YouTube, Google Plus, etc to be highlighted as ‘shared endorsements’ for Internet advertising.
Google is set to start using your name, face, reviews and recommendations for its advertisements, from November 11 according to its new ‘Terms of Service’. The company is planning to showcase user review for brands or restaurants you endorse to display in their ads on the web. The company states that this will benefit the user friends and family with ‘personally relevant’ advertising content.
Google has described the processed as : “We want to give you – and your friends and connections – the most useful information. Recommendations from people you know can really help. So your friends, family and others may see your Profile name and photo, and content like the reviews you share or the ads you 1’d. This only happens when you take an action (things like 1’ing, commenting or following) – and the only people who see it are the people you’ve chosen to share that content with.”
However Google allows users to opt out via their Google profile, and under-18 users won’t have any of their actions or info shared via ads at all. Users also have an option to share their comments and likes with just a small circle of friends from their Google Plus settings. This is much better than Instagram and Facebook’s policies which don’t let you opt out from such ads. Both the companies have faced lawsuits for their policies in the past for selling user content for advertisements.
Source: Techcrunch