In what I suspect will be a growing trend for the search giant, Larry Page threatened company employees’ bonuses if they don’t get the new social features for their products to be successful. The memo, which has been confirmed to exist, is more widely discussed here.
Our Los Angeles SEO company watches the marketplace in which our clients reside very carefully. We are able to provide better advice, better guidance, and better strategic planning when we can predict the course that the web is taking. That is why we pay so much attention to major industry leaders like Google (Search, Social Network?, and Android), Facebook (Social Network and Social Search), Apple (iPhone and iPad), and Microsoft (Bing and Internet Explorer).
We’ve been saying for quite a while now that these dominant parties have officially reached a point where they are so focused on competition that they are failing to focus on innovation or creation. Google is well known to have flopped on its launch of Buzz and is struggling to get +1 to be anything more than another Facebook ‘Like’ button. Their advertising network has got to be concerned and many are likely starting to divvy up their investments in social media advertising and in search advertising. As Facebook pushes for more search functionality, they have the opportunity to start gnawing away at Google’s primary backbone.
Google has one of the most talented and highly regarded workforces on the planet. A lot of major startup CEOs and executives went through their doors before venturing out on their own. Google threatening to withhold bonuses from that same workforce, because they aren’t effectively copying their competitors’ concepts is ridiculous.
Hey Google, why don’t you encourage them to be creative and innovative! Maybe allow your employees a few hours a week for brainstorming, between departments? Why not give bonuses to people who start up amazing new features? There are two psychological effects that happens with this approach- 1. You tell your employees you are not concerned about being unique and a forerunner in a very negative way. Many of these people came to Google with a good resume, and could have landed anywhere. Don’t tell them so publicly you’ve lost your edge. 2. Negative incentives are proven to have less effect then positive one. Threats show rotting at the top, and stakeholders and investors better sit up and take notice. The fact that this memo made it public should tell you that there is a growing concern within the company and a growing distrust for management.
