Google and EBay Work Together (A Think)

The New York Times is running an article entitled EBay Strikes an Ad Deal With Google. The article explains that EBay is going to pay Google to run advertisements on searches conducted outside the United States. Several months ago, EBay struck a similar deal with Yahoo, Google's main competitor, to put advertistements on searches done inside the United States. The article states:

The deal is noteworthy not only because the two companies are increasingly in direct competition — in areas like online phone service, payment and product listings — but also because EBay signed a similar partnership in May with Yahoo that included ads on domestic pages. That alliance was seen as a way to counter the growing power of Google.

Lesson Ideas:
1. Ask (younger) students why EBay would want to run advertisements, in the frist place. Encourage them to think about the way in which adds promote business by making people aware of products and services offered. You might even ask students to make up an add for either a local business or a make-believe business of their own. Students could either make up an ad for television, a newspaper, or even an online newspaper. They might make an ad on an Internet program like
2. For students a little bit older, this webquest, entitled Cyberagenda Advertising might be interesting.
3. Ask students to imagine that they are Meg Whitman, the President of EBay. She has to consider the positives and negatives of developing an advertising contract with Google. In groups of two or three ask them to develop a graph listing positive reasons to develop a contract and negative reasons (why they should not develop a contract.) Students could then write up brief position papers and post them on blogs, perhaps even send a link to the blog to Meg Whitman. Challenge students to find an appropriate email address, for her.
4. The article explains that together Google and EBay are going to develop ads that are click to call. If you click on the ad, a telephone will be made on either of the two companies' Internet phone systems, to the company running the ad. This is obviously new and innovative. Ask students to imagine what they think ads will be like in 1000 years.