Is Googles new friend ranking a novel invention or just regurgitated spin to gain digital ad spend?
The head of one connected marketing agency finds out. Google has recently filed a patent in the U.S. called Network Node Ad Targeting. Its premise is to use social network analysis to analyse profiles on online social networks, identifying people who share common interests, ranking influence within communities, then displaying relevant ads on the web pages of those people deemed to be the most influential members of their particular community. The question from network scientists is: what makes Google’s patent application ‘novel and non-obvious’? They argue that there’s nothing particularly new here — social network analysis tools have been used to identify and target influencers within markets such as the pharmaceutical industry for decades. They have a point, although the guess is that Google have some new algorithm that makes a difference on the ad serving side, and that’s what they’re trying to patent. Others think this patent application is a defensive move, or just one of many a
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