Google Newspaper Ad Campaign to Educate on Security, Privacy

Google's business is advertising, so maybe it was bound to start using it to its own advantage eventually. Google has been ad shy for many years, but started advertising more lately. It's continuing its expansion with a campaign aimed at educating regular users on how to stay safe on the web, but also on what privacy issues affecting Google alone.

The company claims it is its largest such campaign and Google will place ads in newspapers, magazines or subway stations.

"Technology can be confusing, and the industry often fails to explain clearly enough why digital literacy matters. So today in the U.S. we’re kicking off Good to Know, our biggest-ever consumer education campaign focused on making the web a safer, more comfortable place," Alma Whitten, Google's director of Privacy, Product and Engineering, wrote.

"Our ad campaign offers privacy and security tips: Use 2-step verification! Remember to lock your computer when you step away! Make sure your connection to a website is secure! It also explains some of the building blocks of the web like cookies and IP addresses," she added.

The campaign will focus on several issues. Security is one of them, for example, the use of 2-step verification for Google accounts, to make it harder for attackers to get access.

Another ad urges people to simply lock their computers, tablets or phones, when they're done using them.

Other ads focus on privacy issues and explain why Google needs some of the data it gathers, like a user's location or why cookies are used to store info on a user.

There is also a Good to Know website with tips in several categories, much in the same theme. What's interesting is that Google ran a very similar campaign in the UK which focused on the same issues and even ran the same ads.