“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” – Albert Einstein

Well, the issue about the sponsored ad on google is more or less part of the past now. The ads are changed and there have been quite a number of ‘discussion’ on the blogosphere for the past few days. Oh well, for the better or the worse, the parties involved did not step out to take the issue by the horn.

This can mean two things: 1) yes, slowly, people will stop talking about it and it will become ‘just another in(ac)cident of the past; 2) many years down the road, when someone do a search online, all these will still surface because even though the wind has died down, the damage is already done, and it’s permanently there on the web.

This whole issue has shown that ‘word of mouth’ is faster than ever in this new era with the advanced technology. Just like the Edison Chen’s case which made headlines for at least 1.5 months. It was precisely because of the internet that the culprit could upload the pictures and ’share’ them with everyone anywhere in the world. This is where people comment, support, comfort or slam the characters involved; this is also where journalists could send back reports faster than ever before. If rumours have legs, those legs must have made good friends with technology to work hand-in-hand.

“Technology makes it possible for people to gain control over everything, except over technology.” – John Tudor

It’s very real. It’s viral. Previously, during one of the forums that I attended, one of the speakers was speaking on the topic about how children can access restricted content because they were able to gain access to the internet where information is widely shared. If it was in the past, to learn about another country, you will probably have to borrow a book from the library; right now, you may just type the country name into any search engine, and ta-la~ you will know right away its population, religions, places to visit, find accomodation etc –> all with a click!

This is so amazing!

yep, you didn’t see it wrongly. For some ‘weird’ reasons, the sponsored link featuring ‘Smu Singapore’ had the URL for www.ntu.edu.sg -.-” And if you click on the ‘Smu Singapore’ word, it will link you to the NTU’s website for registering for admission to their university. Well, for clarification purposes (and not be bias), I tried to google ‘NUS Singapore’ and ‘NTU Singapore’, but all I got as results was a NTU advertisement on the right-hand side of the page. (Note: the sponsored link in the SMU case was a banner on top.. and it’s a sponsored link; not just some ad!)

Apparently, I do think someone has a lot to answer to; especially since this has come to the attention of many in the blogosphere. (see here and here and here) I’m sure they will come to realize that social media tools can be quite deadly since it’s so fast and everyone and anyone can push this information out to the virtual space so quickly! It’s viral! Anyway, when I came back about 1.5 hrs ago and tried to google it again, first it disappeared, then it appears as a sponsored link by the right-hand side now; if you google those words on www.google.com.sg, you do get to see the full-sponsored link-banner just like the screenshot above.

Seriously, whatever were they thinking by putting up something so misleading?