There s Silicon Valley, and there s the rest of America. While Google does the bulk of its development here, the market for its online services extends far beyond. Yet most of Google s user research has been focused in Silicon Valley, the Associated Press reported. So Google knows plenty about Barry the Tesla-driving Palo Alto VC, but maybe not enough about Krystal, the hairstylist in Reno who takes the No. 5 bus to work.
Now Google is busting out on a cross-country road trip, to see how people elsewhere in America use its online services, and how they react to new features. A big white van with Google on the sides is set to roll out Monday in New York for a six-week mission across seven states, finishing up in South Lake Tahoe.
The vehicle will stop near parks, libraries, colleges and some regional Google offices. Over the course of the trip, the company expects to invite into the van 500 people. Once inside, researchers will watch, question and record how the volunteers use apps and other services on their smartphones in sessions that will last 15 to 90 minutes, the Associated Press reported. They will receive gift cards and Google t-shirts in return for their time.
Volunteering, it appears, could bestow some insider intel on participants. A few may even get a glimpse at ideas that Google s engineers are still refining before the company decides whether to release them as products to the general public, the AP article said.
San Diego State University marketing professor Steven Osinski told the AP that the road trip sounded more like a goodwill tour than a research project. I don t know how much more they are going to learn that they are not aware of right now, Osinski said. With just one van, whatever data they get is likely to be very anecdotal.
Google researcher Laura Granka maintained that the trip was purely driven by research and our desire to reach and understand more of our users.
After New York, the van will visit Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Clemson, South Carolina; Atlanta; Boulder, Colorado; Salt Lake City; Reno; and South Lake Tahoe on April 21-22.
Photo: Google headquarters in Mountain View (Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)
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