You guys want some cookies?... Google is expected to use today's developers conference to reveal its latest move: Strengthen its online ad dominance. That involves Chrome (its dominant web-browser) and a new button that lets users super-easily block tracking cookies.
- Cookies (noun): Little bits of code that track what web pages you view and things you click/tap.
They're why that sweater you clicked once follows you everywhere... Digital ad firms use cookie-delivered data to convince companies to buy online ads. Without cookies, these Google rivals could die...making Google's ad sales biz even stronger. Google is expected to frame the move as a user privacy thing, but it could also earn it more of the market.
Beware the algorithm tweak... Like those little fish sucking on a shark's belly, some businesses depend completely on a bigger one. Google, Facebook, and Amazon have corporate habitats built around them. The big risk for minnows is that a flick of a switch cuts off their access to customers.
- Facebook did it with games and for online publishers.
- Amazon could do it with Sonos' Alexa-powered speakers.
- Google just might do it with cookies and the ad companies that live off them.