• Search Engine Land, Wednesday, February 8, 2012 12:43 PM

In the interest of better behavioral data, Google plans to pay consumers to monitor their every online move. Dubbed Screenwise, Google is already filling the program with willing participants. On a signup page, Google explains that it wants to create a panel of people to help it “learn more about how everyday people use the Internet,” adding that panel members have to be at least 13 years old, and have (or agree to sign up for) a Google account.

“As a panelist, you’ll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them,” the signup page explains. “What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone.” In exchange, as Search Engine Land reports, panel members get a $5 Amazon gift card code for installing the browser extension, and then can earn another $5 Amazon code for every three months that they continue in the Screenwise program.

Google says it is using online research firm Knowledge Networks as its “panel management partner.” Specifics aside, as Search Engine Land notes, “The timing of this program seems odd, especially considering the backlash that Google has faced over the upcoming changes to its privacy policy.”

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