Is Google Buidling the Ultimate Panel?

Let me get this out of the way first: I love Google’s new Chrome browser. I love its design, its speed, and its stability. I love the way it mashes together and seamlessly melds the address and search bars. I love the way it mines my history and spits back at me, in a handy, speed-dial format, the sites that are most indelibly imprinted onto my daily browsing routine. I’m using it side-by-side with Firefox now as my webtop app (FF still has the huge advantage of the open API for browser plug-ins), but my browsing future looks Chromy.

Still, I’m really curious about one thing. When you download and install the browser, Google asks you to opt-in or opt-out to sharing anonymous usage statistics with them. The nominal usage for this data is to help identify engineering flaws, by parsing through crash reports. But might Google not also be putting in place the world’s most robust online panel?

When Google Labs trotted out its Trends for Websites, it disclosed that its traffic estimates were based on “aggregated Google search data, aggregated opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in consumer panel data, and other third-party market research.” Can we now add “anonymous, opt-in Chrome browser-level data” to that list?

Recently, there was some talk that Mozilla could leverage its installed Firefox base to construct a huge opt-in sample that would produce more accurate traffic and usage stats than the existing audience measurement players. Has Google beaten its (formerly?) close buddies at Mozilla to the punch?