Ex-Google Engineer Explains Why Google Failed At Social Networking

by Shashank on January 1, 2011

There is a interesting thread going on in Quora which is discussing as to why companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo did not succeed at social networking. The question has been answered by an ex-Google employee Aaron B Iba, who worked for Google in 2005 and also for the Orkut team. Aaron went on to co-found a YCombinator company(AppJet). This is what he has answered,google logo Ex Google Engineer Explains Why Google Failed At Social Networking

“I worked at Google in 2005 and briefly on the Orkut team.  I encountered an environment that viewed social networking as a frivolous form of entertainment rather than a real utility, and I’m pretty sure this viewpoint was shared all the way up the chain of command to the founders.

At that time, hardly anyone at Google actually used Facebook, so they just didn’t understand what people were getting out of social networking products.  Incredibly, many people on the Orkut team did not use their own product (let alone Facebook) outside of work.  By contrast, everyone I know who worked at Facebook was a passionate user of that product.

Ultimately, I believe Google didn’t succeed at social networking because of this widespread misunderstanding of the value in social networking products. “

The statement confirms that the real problem with Google lies in its DNA. People there do not want to take social networking seriously and would instead focus on what they believe will bring in more revenue.

Google now plans to launch “Google+1″ by end of 2011 and it would be interesting to see Google playing the catch up game with Facebook. Question is, Is it too late?

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