Google would love to know how readers on its site react
to content. The company has even gone so far as to apply for a patent on ways to
collect information captured by a device’s video camera.
Many online companies collect customer information, but
Google proposes to gauge readers’ reaction to content through video and audio
analysis, eye-tracking, head position, body inclination, and physical
expression, according to a report in InformationWeek. There’s no mention of advertising in the application, but understanding
user interest would certainly be useful.
“Providers of the media content find great value in
determining the user’s attentiveness to the displayed media content, as knowing
the user’s interest in media content can help media providers tailor future
content or recommendations more closely to the user’s interest,” Google wrote
in the patent application. “Accordingly, in some implementations, a user’s
interest in displayed media is determined by analyzing visual data of the users
(such as visual data from photographs or video) for physical indicia of user
interest.”
