[miz_wright]

I'm going to post some thoughts I've voiced elsewhere but haven't seen much response to. 'Cos I am a mad, phat thread-killa.

I strongly suspect this is Google's attempt to find a back way to secure the data it was looking to acquire when it made a bid to pick up Facebook 2 years ago. It's staying out of the community space, 'cos they make good software. But AdSense is probably the bulk of their profits - I'm sure we can agree - and if they can find a way to exploit interpersonal recomendations, that makes their ads even more profitable.

Sure, there will be some bitching about Google having that much power as a Peeping Tom, but those same arguments were raised five years ago when Gmail invites were going 'round - and I know Damian has raised those concerns about the analytics. Has it made a significant dent any the meteoric rise of Google as a powerhouse in UX?

Not that I've seen.