Pundits have been predicting Google’s downfall for years, but recent developments are adding substance to such prophecies.
In a derisive blog post this week, former Google engineer James Whittaker says his once-innovative former
employer is now playing catch-up in the areas of advertising and social. "The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate," writes Whittaker. "The
Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus."
Essentially, [Whittaker] spins a tale of a once idealist company getting drunk on ad dollars and selling their
soul to push monetization above all else,” writes MG Siegler.
Yes, Whittaker now works for rival Microsoft,
CNet notes -- but that doesn’t discount his tough analysis. “Google's empire is under direct assault from Facebook,” CNet writes. “Its big weapons -- Search, AdWords, and
AdSense -- are not as potent as they once were, thanks to the rise of social media.”
Sure, “this could be sour grapes from somebody who didn't get what he wants,” Business Insider writes. “But we've
spoken to other Google employees who have left in the last year, and a lot of them cited similar problems: a more top-down approach and a manic focus on beating Facebook.”
In his
rant, Whittaker admits that, "technically," Google has always been an ad company. Yet, as The Register notes, he compares the company’s
“huge revenue slurp from the commercial world with that of a TV show, which carries popular material to lure advertisers.”
Despite his Microsoft affiliation, “Whittaker
raises some good points,” writes Time's Techland blog.
“Even from the outside looking in, Google seems less fancy-free than it used to. Whittaker’s post suggests that the new attitude is affecting Google’s internal culture as well.
Google+ may be important to the company, but keeping employees passionate is critical.”
"The problem is, I think Google has failed to understand that along the way, it has become just
another big company," Marketing Land’s Danny Sullivan recently said. "It's a big company that makes
mistakes, like any big company will do. But unlike most big companies, the entire 'Don't Be Evil' mantra it created for itself years ago has given it farther to fall."