Google Tugs At Your Heartstrings With ‘Dear Sophie’

A while back we wrote that the online records of people stored across various profiles in social media would begin to create the richest living history the human race has ever seen. It seems Google agrees. Their new commercial promoting Chrome tells the story of a father recording the life of his daughter starting with her birth. He writes her emails (for her to read someday) using Gmail, records video and uploads it to YouTube, even shows her their house on Google Maps with Street View. It’s a great ad and it’s quite touching, if you have a second, please watch it (below), it’s not a typical commercial.

By the time she reads her dad’s emails, she’ll certainly have profiles all her own on Facebook, Twitter, and the rest to start recording her own life. By the time she has a child she’ll have gigabytes of living history at her fingertips.

‘The web is what you make of it.’

Critics, neigh sayers, and those that refuse to embrace maybe the biggest revolution in the way humans communicate ever, are missing out. Sure, there are negatives with the web and social media. Privacy is a concern, the way it affects social skills is still unknown, and yeah, maybe ads are more pervasive than ever, but tell me that the bad outweighs the good and the potential for amazing.

Google has it right on this, the web really is what you make it. They believe in a socially driven web, a web for the people, by the people. We’ll take it one step further and call it a web for the people, by the people, and of the people.

The social web isn’t just a marketing and business machine. Some companies treat it that way and that is a mistake. It’s all about relationships and staying human. Yes, it is a powerful tool for building your brand, even driving sales, but the people that love your company, your brand, you–should always come first. That’s our philosophy anyway, and we’re prepared to go to battle with anyone that says otherwise. Authentic engagement.

Thanks Google, this video is a glimpse of the future of the bright side of the social web. We’re putting our generation down in rich, living history and connecting to each other in ways no group of people ever has. Now, where are my baby emails mom?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk[/youtube]