(http://blogs-images.forbes.com/erikkain/files/2011/10/google-plus-logo.png)
Ironically, the post was made on Google+, and was intended for certain internal employees at Google. As the engineer states 'Sadly, it was intended to be an internal post, visible to everybody at Google, but not externally. But as it was midnight and I am not what you might call an experienced Google+ user'. This seems to be just another PR nightmare for Google+, after recent reports of traffic to the site falling dramatically, along with many managers at Google not even using the social networking service.
After accidentally making this post public, the news of the Google engineer bashing Google+ quickly became headline news around many technology and press websites around the globe, and has quickly resulted in a very nasty headache for Google, and I'm sure the engineer too.
Clearly, this is one of many classic examples of failing to realise the public nature of the internet. The real question is, is too much value being placed upon posts like these? As I've stated in a previous post, companies have been known to place a very high value on seemingly personal reviews or statements of a product or service by individuals. It could be assumed that this post was made by a disgruntled employee after a very bad day at work, and has now had disastrous effects for the employee themselves and for Google. Personally I'd say the employee is to blame, and that responsibility should be taken for their own actions. However, I feel that the online press jumping all over this story is a bit much. Being one employees view of the service, it doesn't really dictate the amount of negative press Google+ has received.
2 comments:
People just do not learn I guess. On a brand perspective, this is immense damage whereby your own employee is pretty much not in line with your vision. Which raises the question about the organisational culture, are all of Google's employees on the same page as that of the senior management?
The moral of the story should be never underestimate the power of online press.
Charlyn: Very true. I find it quite weird, personally when I think of Google and its employees, I always think of them as being enthusiastic about their work, and enjoying their 'open plan' office.
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