Google is acting more like a true platform every day.

Consider its new privacy policy. To make a long story short, information obtained by Google will be shared throughout its platform. There will be greater integration among planks. For instance, watching a YouTube video on Led Zeppelin might lead to more ads in Gmail related to the 1970s classic rock legends.

Simon Says

This isn’t surprising. I’ve been saying for a while now that Google is a single platform with many planks; it is not a bunch of disparate products or services. It has learned from previous snafus about “discoveries” from all-too-eager citizen journalists.

Be transparent—or else.