The "Ghosts" of Google+ Are Heeeere... Well, Sort Of
Discuss on Google+
In March, 2012 Engadget reported on a Google patent application (http://goo.gl/d4IuH) for a, "system and method for generating a ghost profile for a social network."
In principle what this would allow anti-social network types to follow the online social activities of other users on Google+, and enjoy some of the benefits of being on a social network, while having an unsearchable profile and only partially being a member of the network. Mark Traphagen of Virante Search Marketing described these hypothetical accounts as "phantom" profiles.
Benefits might include such things as the ability to view posts and add comments that would show only as a partial name. A more detailed analysis can be found on PatentBolt.com. Since early April the story has faded largely from interest, and no one has reported on any actual application of the technology behind the patent filing. I believe I may have found one, in which case, as far as I know (or could find through a Google Search), I may the first to connect the patent to an actual method being employed.
Figure 18 of the PatentBolt article above depicts a process by which a social network member invites a non-member, and before an invitation to join is ever generated and sent out to the invitee, a "ghost profile" is generated for them. I've now seen this process in action, and might have noticed it months earlier had I been looking for it, or had the person who helped me discover it suspected it was unusual in any way.
This person, a friend in real life, is exactly the type of person this patent was aimed at: a non-joiner of all social networks. For that reason, of course, I cannot give any personal information about them, except to say that they live in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Some months ago, through Gmail's new Circle feature, I added them to my Circles. I knew they wouldn't accept the invitation to Google+ this would automatically generate, but the purpose was for email organization, not for social networking.
They have no Google+ account, only a classic Google profile from their Gmail account, which they use across Google services, otherwise I might never have learned about their "ghost profile", which is apparently so "ghostly" that even they were unaware that it existed.
The two of us like to discuss news, and we both use Google News while logged into our respective accounts. For months I had begun to notice that they were mentioning many of the same articles I was reading online. My first instinct was that this was a coincidence, but eventually it occurred to me that Google's new privacy policy integration could be allowing them to use our connections via Gmail, and the Circle I added them to, for surfacing similar results. No big mystery, I thought, just a new mechanism of The Almighty Algorithm.
So imagine my surprise when this friend, who isn't on Google+, mentioned that they saw one of my "+1's" on Google News. "Wait, what?" I asked, surprised. "You aren't on Google+!" They informed me that they've been seeing these for months, probably since the moment I Circled them, and had just never thought it was anything unusual and assumed that I already knew about it. All of those "strange coincidences", where they were seeing the same articles I was reading, weren't coincidence at all, they'd been deliberately reading articles that I'd "+1'd"!
Naturally, I asked for a screenshot, which you can see above (two pieces of location information have been deliberately smudged along the left hand side; as I said, this person is not a social networker and wanted this information withheld). Along the right hand side you can see two of the articles that I Plussed. My friend has also informed me that my Plusses appear in their Google Search results as well, and that they often use these to find things, including, occasionally, online purchases (proof of the value Google gains from this).
What this proves is that not only are these phantom profiles actually being generated, but that they work the way Google intended, but perhaps only if the phantom profile is linked to a Google account that is used across services. Gmail is a natural foot-in-the-door, because it's popular and because email is, in many ways a, predecessor to social networking. I would imagine that over time Google will slip a lot more functionality into these profiles, bringing more of the social experience to non-joiners.
Imagine a grandmother who wants to view pictures from her grandchildren, and knows that they post these to a social network, but doesn't want to join a social network. Now imagine Google+ would let them do just that, view them without joining... if only their grandkids were on Google+ instead of Facebook!
Imagine the single parent in ongoing custody battles with an ex, who is concerned that their social network activity could be used against them in court... if only their friends were on Google+ instead of Facebook! Half of Americans may be on Facebook, but that means half aren't, and a significant number may simply never join, or only join after a long battle with peer pressure. What if they had an alternative?
What if you wanted someone on your social network, but they weren't a social networking type, and you could tell them about this great alternative where they can join without ever really joining? In my own case, I didn't even have to tell them!
Perhaps if Mark Zuckerberg could turn back time he would have thought to include such a feature in his own social network, but he didn't, and wouldn't have had the reach across the web that Google enjoys to bring more and more of this to sites a person is already using (e.g. Search, Gmail, YouTube, etc...).
Google has created a middle ground, a sort of "social network purgatory" as it were, which like the metaphysical purgatory leaves the door open both ways, possibly encouraging non-joiners to consider joining later on for the added benefits, but allowing them to wipe their hands and walk away without difficulty as well.
At a time when many people are conflicted about social networking, aware of the benefits but also wary of the costs, risks, and commitment involved, this might prove to be a feature of great value, eventually. It's personally rewarding, I should add, to know that my friend can now enjoy the benefits of receiving social signals from me online, in a way that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable, or like screaming and running for the safe hills of online solitude! I suspect many users of Google+ would feel the same.
Post a Comment