The Neilsen Group has been collecting data for years now. Select families can send Neilsen information about various products, and Neilsen will send those families some perks. Now, Google is trying to cash in on the Neilsen formula. Recently, Google announced a Chrome extension that will allow select individuals to track and send their browsing habit data directly to Google headquarters.

For these efforts, participants will receive a $5 Amazon gift card every three months – with a $25 cap. That’s right, you can give away all of your browsing data for $25. If this doesn’t sound like a good deal to you (then again, it might) there could be another option on the horizon. Some tech blogs are reporting that Google has created a black box device that some avid Google searchers can use to collect search data and send that data to Google.

The Cisco Router for Google

Apparently (and according to TechCrunch), those families that are selected to participate in another type of Google data program might be paid $100 up front and $20 every month for valuable data (now, that’s more like it!). TechCrunch let the world know about the Google router boxes via a tip, though Google hasn’t made any official announcement yet. However, sources like these tend to be correct, and, if this is true, Cisco is the company behind the small black boxes that Google will send out to select homes.

How do you enroll in this program? Right now, there’s very little information regarding the Google data collection program. You can go to the Google homepage and look for information, or you can contact Google directly to try and find out whether or not the data you can provide is useful. Otherwise, you might just have to sit back and let Google contact you. Seemingly, Google already knows who to target for this new data project, and those people have probably already been contacted. If you want to sign up for the Chrome extension, you can do this via the Google Screenwise Page.

An Interesting Move for Google

No matter where you stand on the Google fence, it’s hard to deny that this company is constantly innovating. Further, the Google marketing team seems to rivaling Apple’s as far as new marketing initiatives are concerned. Even though the world seems to be moving towards mobile (and Google certainly moves in this direction too), there’s something to be said about the Neilsen data collection model. After all, Neilsen has been gathering information in this manner for some time now, so why shouldn’t it work for Google?

Google’s Cisco-developed black box won’t let you stream movies or do anything else, but it might provide you with an extra $20 per month. Of course, this means letting Google in on your very private information, but, hey, who are you kidding? Google already collects your browsing details, so this is just extra icing on the cake. If you want in on the new Google data collection project, check out Google’s home page and Screenwise page – you might just be worth paying in Google’s eyes.