This whole Google/Sicko fiasco is a little embarrassing. Now, I’m no supporter of Michael Moore. Personally, I find him obnoxious and I think he does more to make similar-minded people look sneaky and untrustworthy than he actually does to educate. I also think that Google is an awesome company. They’re incredibly forward thinking and quick to embrace modern business practices. This is how they were opened up to this mess.
Google has employees blogging on a number of different topics. This is great. It offers a level of transparency that doesn’t exist in most companies. It makes Google easy to trust. Google also prides itself in hiring the best people. Generally these people are probably very intelligent. One risk that will always exist with choosing human power over computer is predictability. Well, the lack thereof. This can manifest in a poorly thought out blog post.
The idea is not bad. It’s a good way to teach customers how to use Google’s products. And the issue is not the content, or ideas exposed, but the medium. A corporate blog is not a place to discuss opinions. This particular instance wasn’t catastrophic, but it could have been.
I’m not saying fire the woman. I’m not even saying punish her. Just remember to be very careful who is allowed to portray the face of your company. People are prone to making mistakes, and there are plenty of legitimate reasons for screwing up. Let’s try to avoid the stupid ones.
25 responses so far ↓
1 Holly // Apr 13, 2008 at 6:45 am
that was an interesting read. Thanks for the awesome post as always.
2 Kristian Liebrand // Jun 3, 2008 at 3:00 am
As far as I know this company hires one of the best people. I don’t see in any case that Google is trying to manipulate people, or in fact hiring people who are intelligent and stupid people.
3 Voice in the Dark // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:40 am
Even if a company decides not to be transparent and to disallow its employees to blog, there are many ways to leak valuable information. You can’t just shut everyone’s voice up
Thanks for the interesting post!
4 Marius // Jul 23, 2008 at 10:24 am
I too believe the things are often mixed up when Google’s employees are using blogs to post their own opinions. They should know better the implications of a post like the Sicko one. They should be smarter than that after all..come on.
5 lista de cumparaturi // Oct 24, 2008 at 9:22 am
Maybe some information should stay inside the company.
6 Brustvergroesserung // Dec 5, 2008 at 7:34 am
Well they always have some surprises but there is nothing we can do to avoid this actions, specially if google is the largest search engine worldwide but I agree that maybe some information should stay inside the company.
7 Marble Host // Dec 22, 2008 at 4:17 am
Hi,
Its true that all the employees are not giving correct answer of the question they are not at lest try to read what is the topic but i think some of them they are doing for time pass only.
But all the employees are not like that some of them also giving serious ans.
http://www.marblehost.com
8 Web Hosting Jack // Jan 13, 2009 at 9:46 am
I am abig fan of your blog and this post again make me to bring you to the top of my list
ChEeRs !
9 MarbleHost.com // Jan 29, 2009 at 4:48 am
Hello,
I manage a corporate blog for a Fortune 3 company and one of the largest challenges I have faced is that of a content delivery solution. In order for a corporate blog “web” to work there needs to be a quality RSS reader must site inside our firewalls and google reader won’t work. Getting employee to adopt the internal RSS reader has been a large challenge.
Thanks
10 Sleep Enough // Apr 1, 2009 at 8:28 am
To get into Google, you need to pass a notoriously tricky IQ test. I’ve seen a sample of their questions, and they are really way out of any stupid person’s intelligence level. So it’s not easy to get into Google.
11 christianforum // May 6, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Head smarts doesn’t always translate into common sense. I’ve seen employees, owners, partners, investors and contracted employees do some pretty stupid things. People just don’t think things through. I’m guilty of it too but sometimes certain things seem so obvious!
12 My Home builders // Jun 3, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I think that only individuals can affect a moral climate in the corporate world. As a corporate entity, the bottom line will always win out in a moral struggle. Our only hope can be that there exists some moral and ethical people in the right positions within the company who can instill and maintain some semblance of sanity in this area.
13 Web Hosting Asap // Jun 13, 2009 at 12:30 pm
As far as I know this company hires one of the best people. I don’t see in any case that Google is trying to manipulate people, or in fact hiring people who are intelligent and stupid people.
14 googlehomebusiness // Aug 3, 2009 at 11:22 am
Great post as always. Keep up the good work. I would love to read more of your posts soon. Cheers! Anyways, do you want to make money online? Try the newest google money master, and start earning bucks. This is your chance now! Don’t you miss it
15 rakeback // Aug 5, 2009 at 3:18 am
It’s true that a major search engine should stay neutral in these matters. That should be the case most of the time, but then there are always individuals who want to make a name for themselves, for better or worse.
16 Free Wii Points // Aug 28, 2009 at 3:06 am
I completely agree with what rakeback said.
17 Bobby Car Expert // Aug 29, 2009 at 3:48 am
I think the idea of blogging for the company is good, but each blog should be signed off by a line-manager before going live.
18 Attorney Smith // Sep 19, 2009 at 4:44 am
In order for a corporate blog “web” to work there needs to be a quality RSS reader must site inside our firewalls and google reader won’t work. Getting employee to adopt the internal RSS reader has been a large challenge.
19 Chris // Sep 25, 2009 at 12:21 pm
In political science classes, an iron-triangle was defined as the way media, corporate, and political interests connect.
What’s been happening, I think, is that Google is trying to get in on this triangle as an “official” media outlet.
In the meantime, Michael Moore, and yes even the rest of us who have blogs, are part of a more independent media that isn’t “strong enough” to cement the bonds of the triangle.
Every once in a while, Google tips their hand and proves they’re trying to get in on the game where NBC or ABC or CBS is at. You’ll know they’ve truly made it when they pay less in taxes than they get back from government contracts
20 PayPal Money // Dec 4, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Google is like some type of God on earth.
21 Wii Points // Dec 4, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Google owns more than 2% of all servers in the world.
22 tagesgeldvergleich // Feb 14, 2010 at 11:18 am
But what points?!
23 Depotvergleich // Feb 14, 2010 at 11:19 am
Bananas?!!
24 Music Boxes // Feb 19, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I love Michael Moore and his movies. It’s very compelling and you will definitely know the truth behind any anomalies that the government does.
25 divorceattorney // Mar 9, 2010 at 4:20 am
I like britneyspear…. so cute
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