Inside Google: a mindset
During a recent trip to Boston, I had the opportunity to watch the documentary “Inside Google”. Eric Schmidt (former CEO) explains that when he arrived at the company, he had suggested a new idea in a meeting. One participant then exclaimed: “That’s evil”, in reference to the famous “Don’t be evil”. The idea was dismissed.
I myself, at my own humble and modest level, experienced a fairly similar anecdote:
An unfair situation
A client wanted to list two products on Google Shopping, a free service from the American giant. After 30 days, the feed I had submitted still had not been approved, although it was technically compliant. After sending a complaint, Google, through “Nicolas”, replied that my feed was too small and that all of the company’s products had to be included.
In response, I explain that my client is an SME with almost a single product and that all the major distributors, for their part, offer that same product on Google Shopping through their stores (they have huge multi-brand feeds), which seems quite unfair to me.
Without really believing it, I explain that it is a pity to penalize a manufacturing SME in its launch phase in favor of all-powerful intermediaries, to the detriment of the consumer, who could deal directly with the manufacturer. I even take care to end my message with a “Don’t be Evil”.
An exemplary reaction
2 hours later, I received an email confirming the upcoming manual approval of the feed, which was done within 24 hours.
It just goes to show that Google really is a company unlike any other, and that there really are people inside it…
