Matt Cutts is right.
Finally, Arrington’s mention of “Matt Cutts, the unofficial Google blogger” also set my spidey sense tingling. No single person should be Google’s unofficial blogger–that’s not scalable.
Matt’s talking about how some people expect him to be the go-to-guy on all things Google. With Google having close to 10,000 employees and tons of projects, how can the guy with the popular blog doing webmaster relations be handling all of PR for multi-billion dollar corporation? Google has been hiring PR people left and right (go to any Google event, and you’ll meet the guy who got hired yesterday), and while the impact is not there yet, obviously the company is trying to improve things.
On the more short-term and personal levels, bloggers can have a great impact on PR. Matt points out a few bloggers who are making a difference, but the fact is that more needs to be done. Microsoft has a great system that encourages all of its employees to blog, and it works quite well. Any problem you have, the team working on that product has a blog, and you can leave a comment and get some help. Google has a bunch of product blogs, but they are impersonal, focusing on tips, and have no place for comments.
Microsoft’s model is the one to copy. If Google gets one thing right in 2007, it should be how it communicates with the rest of the world. As the media starts to turn on Google (and it already is, and will continue to do so), the grassroots becomes your friend. Reach out, let others reach in, and the results will amaze you.
There is one problem, and Matt points it out as well: Google doesn’t like people airing its dirty laundry. When a Googler criticizes the company, that person has stepped over the line and outside the Googleplex, and his opinion can matter less than someone who handled the problem internally. Googlers like to handle things in private; they believe the system works, and it does, but it doesn’t handle the bigger public persona problem.
Right now, if a Googler says something critical, it goes all over the place. You’ll see me writing about it, Philipp, the big search blogs, everybody gets a piece. The reason: It’s rare and exciting. Mark Jen started working at Google, said a few things, and was summarilly shit-canned. Googlers can’t say something bad, because it might make TechCrunch and get them in a bad place with their co-workers. Hell, Blake Ross, who works for a product only incestuously related to Google, criticized Google for something everyone agreed with, but it made Slashdot, C|Net, Wired, Ars, the Guardian, the Inquirer, and Search Engine Land.
There is a solution: In a loud enough room, no one can hear you scream. In Microsoft’s torrent of bloggers, a little criticism gets mostly overlooked. I read everyday blogs of Microsoft employees, on a Microsoft-owned website, saying “I hate the Zune”, “I think we are being monopolistic”, “I wish so-and-so would just shut up”, and you know where I don’t read that? Slashdot. Because Microsoft’s employees are all blogging, they are allowed to speak their mind, because it doesn’t get blasted all over the blogosphere.
When a Googler has something critical to say, I usually blog it, because it is unique. When a Microsoftie has something critical, I ignore it, because they’re all doing it. Microsoft has manufactured a culture of transparency, and when everything is transparent, nothing becomes a “situation”, blown out of proportion. When I link to Microsoft blogs, it is for cool tips on Microsoft products, solutions to common problems, or for things completely unrelated to Microsoft. When I link to Google blogs, it’s usually because someone is running damage control.
Welcome to 2007. A new year is a chance for a new start, and it isn’t just a cliche. Google should be ahead of the curve, getting transparent before things get too bad, unlike Microsoft, which started when everyone already hated them. There’s an opportunity, now, to start a Google Blogging Network, one that can listen when there is a problem, find the solution before it becomes an international incident, and let people know that there are human beings at Google.
The opportunity is there. The writing is on the wall. This year is a turning point for Google, and everyone outside Google sees it coming. If someone inside Google has noticed it, they need to take a leadership position on this. Matt Cutts can’t, and shouldn’t, do it all.
