Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Blogs Google Watch
    • Blogs
    • Google Watch
    • Search Engines

    Facebook Nets Google Exec to Fix Poor PR

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    May 6, 2008
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Ben Ling. Gideon Yu. Ethan Beard. Sheryl Sandberg. Now, I give you Elliot Schrage. Facebook is increasingly beginning to look like Googlebook. Have this many high-profile Microsoft employees gone to Google?

      I’ve covered Facebook’s poaches of Googlers from time to time, sometimes with a wow and sometimes with an eh. But the latest coup involves something a little closer to home than programming or ad sales.

      That’s right; the big PR. Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice president of global communications and public affairs, or to journos like myself the top gatekeeper to what Google corporate information I can access and when, has joined Facebook in the same capacity, according to a letter from CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted by AllThingsDigital here.

      “In this role, he will be responsible for developing the key messages we want people to understand about our products, our business and the growing global importance of social networking and what we do,” Zuckerberg wrote.

      “The goal here is to help people understand how the Internet can strengthen people’s relationships. Elliot will direct our efforts to work with users, media, governments and other entities around the world to ensure that Facebook’s policies are transparent, responsive, effective and are recognized as being those things.”

      That is a nice, warm breath of fresh air.

      Schrage will try to turn around what to most has been a subpar public relations effort. Schrage could have been invaluable in staunching the Beacon nightmare that had users and media screaming for answers like they were blood. When Beacon blew up, Facebook had no single public spokesperson soothing users and courting the media.

      Facebook kind of hid behind the programming and said it was working on the problems. That’s unacceptable.

      Granted, Facebook is not a public company, but it needs to step up and have a better showing in public, not just to defend itself in the face of outraged consumers but to hand-hold the media in its information dissemination.

      I’m sure more than one journalist has read about Facebook events and news and wondered why just the celebrity bloggers, wire services, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal attended or got the skinny first.

      Facebook tends to hide behind a satellite PR firm for its PR. But I ran into an actual Facebook PR rep (they do exist!) at an after-hours party at Web 2.0 Expo a couple of weeks ago.

      The guy was on the ball and when I made a joke about Facebook having, like, four PR people for the whole company, he said that was about right. I said I hoped that would change.

      Hopefully, that will change under Schrage. Google has north of 60 PR people at least and because of that has the ability to be really responsive.

      It doesn’t hide behind one of those satellite firms that throw darts against the Berlin Wall of journalists in the hope something sticks, and when something is controversial it doesn’t stick its head in the sand or go dark the way Facebook did with Beacon until Zuckerberg popped up to apologize and say it was fixed in a blog post.

      Schrage gets how the PR game is played, and now Facebook will, too.

      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×