Why Google sends you no bill for Gmail

Ever wondered why Google never sends you a bill at the end of the month for using their services? The popular belief is that it makes money from advertisements on its website and on its other products you use.

But do advertisements generate so much revenue that Google's market value has pole-vaulted from nothing to over $1 trillion in only two decades?

When it launched Gmail in 2004, Google offered each of its Gmail account holders two megabytes of space for emails — which was very attractive to millions of people embracing the new form of communication.

Then came a swathe of new products, including Google Calendar, Google Contacts, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Photos, and more — all at no fee. Google's services look like a generous gesture meant to enable communication and boost business.

But the real crown jewel of Google is data — our data. It collects an inordinate amount of data from each of its services and sells them for a song. The company compiles the information by tracking every search you make on its website. When you click a link, it commits to memory. It does this for billions of people who devotedly use its services.

Google's Gmail is a treasure trove of information that constantly tells the company your dreams, hopes, and aspirations. For every person who types an email for business or social, Google curates their contacts.

Your personal information

When you exchange emails with a friend, note that Google is the third person in that exchange. Its systems scan and keep keywords and key phrases of your communication.

For every contact you save on Google Contacts, Google can trace them and "know"—what they do, their purchasing habits, who they interact with, where they live and work. How is that possible?

Ten years ago, Google merged its data from across its products and services, making it possible for it to pull a thread between one's search patterns, to their Gmail and places they log on GPS. Together with pictures on Google Photos, Google can create a holistic view of your life and that of your contacts.

Companies pay top dollar to get a piece of this data. They pore into the data to understand peoples’ interests, values, and buying behaviour. They then tailor products and services to suit them. So, is Google altruistic? It gives you a platform — an email, a Google Drive, GPS, and a search engine so that it can harvest a trail of data that you leave behind as you use the services.

Google is by no means alone in this. Hundreds of other social media firms live off your personal information.

So, when Google does not send you a bill, it is not because it is benevolent. It is because you feed it with a steady diet of your information.

Wambugu is an informatician. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @samwambugu2