A little over a week ago, I posted a review of a blog post which mentioned using Google to search for typing.com [1] and of course I was amused that someone (and indeed people in general) still feel an urge to continue using irrational media. [2]
Curious nonetheless, I went to check out typing.com — and was amazed to find what seems to be a very highly organized and professional website, plus a portfolio of other websites, all highly focused within the broad field of education (e.g. teaching.com and reading.com).
This very impressive offering includes an “About Us” page with a link to a manifesto that is also nothing short of phenomenal. All in all, I guess you could say I’m blown away.
And yet there’s also a catch. What seems to be pure success is also mired with spyware. A quick glance at the source code of typing.com revealed tracking by Google Analytics.
While I understand the short-term motivation to sell users down the river to this marketing and advertising behemoth, I always feel it is such a pity to disrespect your own target audience this way. Which parent would say to their own child that it’s perfectly OK to accept candy from strangers? This case is actually even more extreme, as Google has never been particularly secretive about their information gathering schemes. [3]
And of course this Silicon Valley giant is such a fat cat that most companies see a clear path to Eldorado via Mountain View.
I agree that it takes a lot of guts to say something like “I don’t believe in Beatles” (see “Case Study in the Contrast Between Rational vs. Irrational Media: “I Don’t Believe in Beatles”“) and today it (oddly?) seems to be as ordinary as apple pie to believe in the Pope (see “If Google is the Pope of the Internet, Then Who Are You & I?“).
Socio Business blog 