Google has figured out that it can save money by getting product ideas from users rather than engineers. After all, you can’t pay engineers in “shout outs” on their blogs like they’re offering for users.
Yes, the tanking economy is hitting the mighty Google just as hard as every other company out there, and they’re having to cut costs as a result. Gone is the 20% time that allowed engineers to dedicate one day a week to pet projects. And hell, why pay those engineers at all? Users can come up with ideas just as well as they can, and they don’t even have to pay them.
That’s the idea behind the new Google Product Ideas blog, a place for people to submit and vote on ideas for new Google products. And what if you come up with a genius idea that makes Google millions of dollars? “If you post an idea or suggestion and we put it into action, we may give you a shout out on our Product Ideas blog, but we won’t be compensating users for their ideas.”
Craig Hill Media and Consulting 
Interesting!
Posted by ybawany | March 6, 2012, 22:17Sounds a lot more like Google is finally going to try to give the people what they want, instead of telling the people what they want.
Posted by Marc Phillippe Babineau | March 7, 2012, 03:29Fair point, but I wonder if they actually listen to what the people want, or just do waht is best for them. Google does not seem to have a lot of social responsibility or awareness.
Posted by Craig Hill | March 7, 2012, 11:16