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March 25, 2008

Defection Watch: Google’s Director of Social Media Decides It’s More Social at Facebook

Erick Schonfeld

39 comments »

ethanbeard-facebook.pngIf you are the director of Social Media at Google, wouldn’t you rather be working at Facebook? That is what Ethan Beard decided to do. The Google executive turned in his resignation last week and will be joining Facebook. There he will join other ex-Googlers, such as Facebook’s new COO Sheryl Sandberg, CFO Gideon Yu (formerly YouTube’s CFO) and a slew of others. Both at the top ranks and at the bottom, Facebook is finding that the best place to recruit is Google. (It is doing to Google what Google once did to Microsoft).

As for Beard, maybe he just doesn”t think that Google is going to figure out how to sell ads effectively on social networks (even if it is trying new approaches).

Update: Beard is joining Facebook as a director of Business Development, a role he once had at Google He tells me (via a message on Facebook):

Yes, I can confirm that I have resigned from Google and will be going to work for Facebook.

I think Facebook is great for a variety of reasons: the company has an innovative product with amazing growth, the team they have assembled is first rate, and the business is at a very exciting time in its development. I am excited to join Facebook at a time and in a role where I can have a significant impact on its core business and bottom line.

The pre-IPO stock options must be nice too.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. babyjesus

    March 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am

    With the exception of Sheryl, are they hiring anyone from google who’s proven to execute and get the results that they (FB) need? I mean, I’m sure Mr. Yu and Mr. Beard are nice and smart guys… but YouTube wasn’t known for their revenue generation prowess and Google isn’t known for awesome social sites.

    Maybe they (FB) just like sticking it to The Man.

    -mike

  2. diystartupnews.com

    March 25th, 2008 at 10:45 am

    its all about the IPO, who can blame the googlers who were not there when it was IPO time for leaving for the next big tech IPO. Plus I figure they all have friends there now and its a new place to work so most likely more fun and on the edge.

  3. other

    March 25th, 2008 at 10:59 am

    yup, I agree, its all for the IPO - it definitely can’t be for the innovation, as google definitely has the opportunity, scale, and resources to create more innovative products than facebook. I mean, let’s face it, facebook is a clean looking myspace. friends talk to other friends. it’s not revolutionary, and it doesn’t look like it has anything revolutionary planned. their big breakthroughs have been weak in the grand scheme of things (oh! an internal IM system! wow!).

  4. Richard K

    March 25th, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Watch out! Larry and Sergey might jump aboard too! Just joshing!

    INQdrop.com

  5. vrempire

    March 25th, 2008 at 11:19 am

    Hmm..what comes around, comes around. There’s no such stufff now to remain in the same company. Somebody gotta hope for survival.

  6. James Wang

    March 25th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    I’d have to agree that I’m not sure about what is so innovative about facebook yet, but the opportunity to make an impact is bigger at facebook now that Google is becoming so big. The irony is a bit funny.

  7. Buxr Deals

    March 25th, 2008 at 11:41 am

    This is a simple case of following the money.

    James:
    It’s not the innovation of Facebook that is so exciting, it’s that it clearly filled a need.

  8. John C. McClore

    March 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am

    Get in on the bottom line of the Facebook IPO, then at the peak instant cash in all your stock and leave.

  9. Miguel

    March 25th, 2008 at 12:04 pm

    It’s not the IPO nor the innovation.

    It’s the chicks.

    Just like the ones @ SoftOrNot.com

  10. Michael B

    March 25th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

    I would have made that switch too.

    -Check out my site for ways to make money online. http://mikesmoneyclub.blogspot.com

  11. Alex

    March 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pm

    the options must be nice. Just another guy who made a few million bucks now believing the grass is greener on the other side. Wish him well….

    Unless facebook is going to be worth $100B than receiving stock options based on a $15B valuation hurts.

  12. Trevor Plantagenet

    March 25th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    Unless you’re an engineer who is more interested in free food and Big O notation, it’s hard to imagine that anyone who’s any good would want to work at Google in a business or marketing function. It doesn’t surprise me that you’re seeing these people jump ship, they can make a difference at Facebook, which has a less dysfunctional management team (1 stooge versus 4) and potentially make serious money, too.

  13. John Furrier

    March 25th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    I want to work at Facebook. What are the pre-ipo options priced at and what are the grants looking like?

  14. PJ Brunet

    March 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    Probably he knows OpenSocial is destined to flop just like OpenDoc and Java Applets did, can Google even remember back that far?! Lamerz, study your 1990s history!!!

    The “write-once run-anywhere” fantasy ties up resources and restricts agility. The hindrances far outweigh the benefits and we’ll forget OpenSocial like we forgot Applets.

    Running with wet sneakers down the shore doesn’t work, take off your shoes and go baby go! ;-)

  15. Lame

    March 25th, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    Facebook has to have an insane IPO given they are already worth north of $15 B. Backdating options is no longer allowed so all the new folks joining are likely not to have tremendous ROI.

  16. Veeral

    March 25th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Let’s see the what the restrictions are on the stock options. Maybe in the short term, the execs will profit handsomely, but realize that many users are defecting from facebook simply because everyone is on it and the privacy that once heralded by facebook users is long gone. Unless facebook diversifies into related fields, the revenue stream from ads and programs can only grow so much. United States will soon be saturated and the only option will be the rest of the world(which they have already started). I wouldnt be surprised to see some of the departures go back to Google in 3-5 years.

  17. jenkins

    March 25th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    So, a low-level biz dev guy goes to Facebook to become a low-level biz dev guy? That’s fascinating! Give them a Pulitzer! Breathtaking!

  18. Workpost

    March 25th, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    “…Google isn’t known for awesome social sites.”

    Isn’t Orkut owned by Google? Orkut, the social network that is huge–bigger than Facebook–in Brazil and other significant markets worldwide. And isn’t Facebook pushing to expand into Spanish-speaking markets right now? ¿Habla español, señor Beard?

  19. Joe Hunkins

    March 25th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

    Your title feels wrong to me - these jumps say little about how these guys feel about the company — they are all about *personal* prospects for riches.

    Your last line abuot nice IPO shares is far more likely the correct reason - he’s jumping ship because Facebook is pre IPO. Google will increasingly struggle to keep talent because they can no longer offer the prospect of wealth beyond imagination. Facebook still can offer that.

  20. mobilekick.com

    March 25th, 2008 at 4:33 pm

    I hate people who go wherever loyalty is valued the most… All the ex-googlers will perish at facebook (the company that has money, but creates none.)

  21. techmine

    March 25th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

    “…innovative product..” huh??

  22. BuzzCritic

    March 25th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    You would think that google would have the resources to be able to retain these people. Even if the updside of Facebook isn’t realized yet, the profitability of the company will never be what Google has. That being said, there are other factors that come in to play here.

  23. Googlerintheknow

    March 25th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    Ethan was no superstar at Google and he only held the social media job for a couple of months. It was created to park him when he was underperforming at his business development role.

    Anyone there who was having any impact was offered retention packages worth more than what Faceebook is offering director level employees. Sounds like Ethan was passed over again.

  24. Opressed Cuban

    March 25th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

    Are there any more defection opportunities in tech support? Have raft, will relocate.

  25. Web Design by Jacques Snyman

    March 25th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    Was just reading about opensocial in another thread, now this news! If Google is about to embark on a similar exercise why would Ethan Beard be moving to facebook? Doesn’t make sense, but then we can’t see all the factors influencing this decision.

  26. Lawrence Salberg

    March 26th, 2008 at 10:56 am

    All of you are missing it. The point, that is.

    Google execs are jumping over to Facebook for one simple reason. No loss. They leave Google with Google’s blessing. And they implant themselves into the bowels of Facebook and begin to change the culture of Facebook from the inside-out.

    So, when Google makes a bid for Facebook this year or next, it’s minions are all in place internally to help make the case that Facebook should accept the offer. By then, Zuckerburg will have seen how “cool” and “social” all these ex-Google Guys are, and he’ll imagine that his dream will be kept alive (and even boosted) as a Google Company.

    Google sees that Zuckerburg is a fool who turned down a billion dollars because of his principles. Hundreds of blogs and Wired magazine couldn’t figure out what that principle was exactly, but it sure didn’t have to do with money. So Google will absorb him and Facebook by setting the stage to deal with those silly principles of Zuckerburg. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him accept an offer from Google that is lower than Yahoo’s last offer - just because he thinks Google is his friend.

  27. Kyle M. Brown

    March 26th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    Nice theory Saldberg.

    Im not sure Id say Zuckerberg is a fool though, in fact he appears to be getting the attention of industry executives who find something attractive about those principles.

    Thats a large offer to turn down unless you believe your company is more valuable.

  28. Shaun Rosenberg

    April 8th, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    People leaving google to work at facebook, Wow. Social media is becoming big. It is almost like they are trying to take over.

    http://www.stocks-simplified.com

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