Google is rapidly becoming one of the most politically involved tech companies; they're spending unprecedented amounts of cash on lobbying, and they really went all out at this week's Republican National Convention in Tampa.
For starters, Google set up an awesome coffee shop where you could get pretty much anything you wanted for - get this - free. Did we mention that they threw in complimentary 60MB/s internet? Yeah, they did. Needless to say, it was one of the hottest hangouts for convention-goers, from congressmen to reporters.
Needless to say, Google's lounge wasn't without its fair share of pandering of Google's products and political interests. This included encouraging convention attendees to take advantage of the blazingly fast internet by holding Google+ hangouts and keeping up to date on events with Google search and YouTube. There was advertising aplenty, too.
Google spent a lot of money getting their real estate on the convention floor, not to mention crafting the awesome experience that they offered, so it's no surprise that they wanted to share some of their political interests with passersby. To their credit, this was fairly subtle, but if you stopped by, chances are that you walked away with a brochure for Engine Advocacy, the technology think-tank and advocacy group that Google has been a member of since back in January.
Besides the general coolness of the whole display, Google's huge presence at the convention is just another example of the tremendous politicization that's happening in the tech sector right now. With hot-button issues like SOPA and ACTA threatening to completely change the landscape forever, the industry can no longer afford to stay out of the political arena, and you can bet that come November, both parties will be vying for the attention of this relatively new interest group.
Source: Tech Crunch | Image via Tech Crunch
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