Google Measures Webmaster Happiness

Going for the obvious image today.

Here's an interesting story for all you Internet people out there:  Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable reports that Google apparently measures webmaster happiness. They tabulate the data every week and try to improve their scores over time. The funny thing is that no one (outside of Google) knows what the happiness data measures. Some people on webmaster forums are trying to figure out how it all works.

A lot of you may have heard of Twitter mood maps. The Google data probably uses a similar method, just with a focus on webmasters. I find large-scale measurements like these fascinating, but also somewhat troubling. The subjects in both of these examples were never asked to be surveyed. Where is the line between data and privacy?

Leave us your opinion in the comment section. Whether you do or not, Google probably already knows what you think!