People vastly overestimate how much Google knows about them specifically. Or rather how useful this is to Google. They're good at taking vast amounts of data and drawing statistically relevant conclusions, but in my opinion they are weak at using this to enhance individual life. Or even just to use it to target someone with a specific ad, webpage etc. I am not saying they are not powerful. They clearly are. It's just that effectively using the masses of data at the individual level is so difficult. Maybe impossibly difficult.
Consider the banner ads you see when surfing the web. If you're anything like me it's a doddle figuring out why they are showing that ad. e.g. If I search for air tickets to ABC city on XYZ airline, you can be sure that for a week or two after that I will see banner ads of XYZ airline, populated with the latest fares to ABC city. For all their smarts (And believe me they are smart. The smartest person I've ever known or even met, a childhood friend, was a reasonably early-stage Google employee. And there are many like him there) I just don't think they have added much at the core individual level when it comes to targeting, whether it be ads or other content. Their search algorithms and ability to draw statistically relevant points from masses of data are unprecedented. But in my opinion they can't actually use this data to target ads and do other stuff like that that in the sophisticated way they pretend to be able to do. It's a sales pitch to get advertising $'s. I'm not saying that their ads and data are useless. Far from it. But most of the value is simply that someone has seen an ad and may respond. Just like other forms of advertising. And they have created an environment where a lot of people are looking. To be honest for actual marketing advice I'd go to an old school marketer who may have figured out things like where to put what in a supermarket before I go to Google. Especially if I was targeting an individual or a small group, but even large populations as well.
Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much. They aren't anywhere close to developing smart-phone apps that can legitimately diagnose mental illness in all but the most extreme cases. It makes good headlines, but they don't have the know-how. And even if they had the know how, the chips fast enough to process the kind of input necessary are years away from being developed.
About the only way something like this could work right now is if the app came with a device that attached electrodes to your head and measured your brain waves (There is a correlation between certain brain wave patterns and mental illness). That would be relatively simple and doable with current technology, but I don't see people walking around with electrodes attached to their heads.
Consider the banner ads you see when surfing the web. If you're anything like me it's a doddle figuring out why they are showing that ad. e.g. If I search for air tickets to ABC city on XYZ airline, you can be sure that for a week or two after that I will see banner ads of XYZ airline, populated with the latest fares to ABC city. For all their smarts (And believe me they are smart. The smartest person I've ever known or even met, a childhood friend, was a reasonably early-stage Google employee. And there are many like him there) I just don't think they have added much at the core individual level when it comes to targeting, whether it be ads or other content. Their search algorithms and ability to draw statistically relevant points from masses of data are unprecedented. But in my opinion they can't actually use this data to target ads and do other stuff like that that in the sophisticated way they pretend to be able to do. It's a sales pitch to get advertising $'s. I'm not saying that their ads and data are useless. Far from it. But most of the value is simply that someone has seen an ad and may respond. Just like other forms of advertising. And they have created an environment where a lot of people are looking. To be honest for actual marketing advice I'd go to an old school marketer who may have figured out things like where to put what in a supermarket before I go to Google. Especially if I was targeting an individual or a small group, but even large populations as well.
Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much. They aren't anywhere close to developing smart-phone apps that can legitimately diagnose mental illness in all but the most extreme cases. It makes good headlines, but they don't have the know-how. And even if they had the know how, the chips fast enough to process the kind of input necessary are years away from being developed.
About the only way something like this could work right now is if the app came with a device that attached electrodes to your head and measured your brain waves (There is a correlation between certain brain wave patterns and mental illness). That would be relatively simple and doable with current technology, but I don't see people walking around with electrodes attached to their heads.