That’s because Page has now reinstated himself in a sacred position in Silicon Valley: The founder CEO. In a way, part of the reason Page took control seems to be in response to the rise of Facebook, although there are clearly many other factors at play). The company says social is not yet negatively impacting its search business, but there are other ways it is creeping in: Through a significant talent drain to companies like Facebook, and a tarnishing of the company’s position as a tech leader. While Page seems to be ignoring the social Web’s existence (he said Thursday he thinks it’s at the “very very early stages,” ceding comment on the topic to his co-founder Sergey Brin), the category has already had a significant competitive effect on Google. That doesn’t seem like an approach that will go over well now that Page will be CEO of a company of Google’s stature, although perhaps he could save some time by crafting short tweets in lieu of full speeches.
In early 2008, Page instructed Google’s public relations department, which consisted of 130 people, that he would only give them a total of eight hours of his time that year for press conferences, speeches or interviews.” “Larry Page is aggressively disdainful of marketing and public relations. Here’s a memorable section from Ken Auletta’s book “Googled”: While the company circles around launching its own fully fledged social strategy, many Googlers feel that accountability for “getting social” starts at the top by leaders using the products themselves, rather than outright ignoring them.Ĭertainly, Page is incredibly private in all sorts of situations, both online and off. That their bosses decline to participate in what many see as the future of the Web is particularly grating for some young Google employees. Google’s entire executive leadership is particularly anti-social for an Internet company, although unlike Page, Eric Schmidt, its CEO of the last 10 years, had the gumption to at least try Twitter and post updates every couple of weeks. There are many other Fortune 500 CEOs in the same boat, and they certainly have plenty else to do with their time than post Facebook photos from Davos.īut non-Twittering CEOs are likely a dying breed, as transparency and authenticity in corporate communications come into vogue, and the younger generations move up through the ranks. I couldn’t even find a fleshed-out Google profile for Larry Page. If he has a presence on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, it was created with deep privacy settings or a fake name. Google’s new CEO isn’t much for the social Web.
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