Your Face in a Google Ad? - Comments Page 1

The Good, Bad and Ugly brought to you by Google.

I don't know why you always pick on social media.

Frankly, I believe Facebook was invented strictly to help people get in touch with old schoolmates and to help people post what they're doing/planning/thinking with people who really, really care about what the posters are doing/planning/thinking. I don't think Facebook was created to make money. That just sort of happened. Facebook is my friend. It's strictly altruistic.

And I believe that with Google, the whole idea, if you don't understand, is just to help us find stuff on the web that we could never find with Alta Vista. It's really cool that our pictures are automatically attached to ads for things we like. I mean, why not? I don't think Google intended to make money off this. ... Just cover their expenses.

I also believe the earth is flat, and that nobody ever really landed on the moon, or they would know it's made of green cheese.

Mac

I don't use Google Plus and deleted it when I accidentally added myself to it. Do I need to reactivate it to opt out of shared endorsements or does my not having or using Google Plus (and thus, not +1-ing anything)protect me from the evil of Google shared endorsements?

Shared endorsements is well hidden under Home-->Settings.

Google is becoming too big & powerful for our own good. I'm beginning the process of migrating to other services. And you know what? Bing works.

Same question as above: if you haven't upgraded to Google+, is it really necessary to do that to opt out?

I tried following the instructions to opt out of shared endorsements. Ran into some puzzlements; will somebody explain some of this?
I don't seem to have google+ but don't see why I should get it. It seems to necessitate a public profile. Everybody knows the trouble you can cause yourself by sharing on Facebook; why should one look for similar trouble on google?
I don't recall "rating" anything +1, nor being asked to.
I wasn't able to get as far as that endorsements box to uncheck. Does that mean I'm out of it all?
I can't imagine why people would want to share personal information over the web; unless you've just got in from Mars, you've heard some horror stories. (If not, don't forget to post your social security number with your Facebook profile. I hear you can win all sorts of cool stuff.)
Perhaps google's use of "awesome" or "cool stuff" is a giveaway. Only teenagers and others who think they lead a charmed life in which nothing can go wrong talk like that. That may be google's target audience.

FYI:
I followed instructions to uncheck Shared Endorsements. I do not have a photo on my profile, so when I got to edit page the box was not checked. I clicked Save and nothing happened. I imagine if you delete your photo from your profile Google has nothing to share.

Excellent, implicit instructions. Would never have figured out how to opt out if not for Bob's help. Bought him a granola bar to say thanks!

If Google or Facebook wants to use my likeness in an ad, they may do so....the product in question will be endorsed by the image of a frog with a set of false teeth, lol! I never post my own photo on these sites.

Here is an interesting post by Mike Elgan - another Internet person I follow. He contends that "Google got it right" essentially saying that Facebook does all the same things, but without giving you a chance to opt out the way Google has.

https://plus.google.com/+MikeElgan/posts/CsUsJHPbYX2

I Don't have a pic in my Google account. In fact I have very little information in my Google account. Why would I want to upgrade? I expect upgrading would probably would require I add more information? Google already hassles me about adding a cell phone number and another email account for verification.

Bob,

>>>>If you use any Google service...

I use several Google services and I do not care about Google's TOS because Google knows nothing about me.

You can use Google services without submitting your picture and even without revealing your name. You can use Google Search, YouTube, Maps, etc. without providing any information to Google.

If you do have a Google profile, why don't you just remove it?

Mine was disabled by default. Is this a geographic thing so only affecting certain regions?

I don't have my face uploaded anywhere on the Internet. Most certainly not on GOOGLE. I use a Holloween pic of the late Wolfman Jack as my avatar for Facebook. I would think I have no worries about Google, unless they want to use names with no faces for their ads. I haven't "liked" anything on GOOGLE, and nothing much on Facebook, either.

Help, I'm confused. I don't recall ever signing up for a google account. I use google search, maps and You tube. I have google chrome on another computer. Does that mean I actually have a google account somewhere?

Thanks in advance for any help.

The only Google service I have an account with is YouTube and my "profile picture" there is a green donkey. If they want to use that flog one of their products they're more than welcome.

I'm glad I checked . . . My "Shared Endorsements" is already in the "OFF" position.
BTW, why don't people just remove their profile photo from GOOGLE so that all that's left is a generic-looking avatar?

RA

Many thanks. I really have problems with Google+.

I use Google search, email, maps and news. I understand that their motive for providing everything that they do is to make a profit. However,I think that many of the recent changes to Google will tend to drive users away.
I have begun to use Startpage (Startpage.com)for my searches more and more.

As far as the profile picture goes maybe we could have some fun with that. Change your picture to something that an advertiser would not want associated with their product.

Great article Bob! Its not only good but a service to the community specially to most of us that jut accept the conditions of service w/o reading that long document full of legal terms. I disagree with other comments and I hope you keep doing this good work and keeping us out of trouble and able to exercise our God given rights.

No persons picture should be used w/o their approval that is why i never submitted one specially in this environment where personal identities are robbed daily.