Kevin Marks, a social force within Google and one of the main drivers behind its recent social efforts (including OpenSocial, its Social Graph API, and Microformats) is leaving the company. He announced his departure today on his blog. Marks was an evangelist to other engineers outside Google, his official title was Developer Advocate. For many Web developers outside Google, he has been the public face of its social efforts in recent years.
Contacted by phone, Marks says he is working on a bunch of things “related to the social Web” and “activity streams,” but declined to get into specifics. Asked why he is leaving Google, he responds that his work is pretty much completed: “Over the last two years, we have built out the infrastructure for the social Web. Now it is time to build things on that infrastructure.”
He also is ready to work in a smaller company. Noting that he has worked at both large and small companies over the years, he says, “I am due for a small company phase.”
That is a nice way to put it. OpenSocial has been gaining steam, but still seems to be lagging Facebook as the platform of choice for social applications and Websites. That is not to say that the game is over or that OpenSocial cannot prevail over time (precisely by being more open). The action, anyway, is moving to real time activity streams and Marks now seems to be pointed in that direction.
Good luck starting a new company Mark, if you need Ad Ops guy hire me
I mean Kevin
hahah #fail
I couldn’t agree more LOL
He sure looks like he would be the life of any party.
“he has been the public face of its social efforts in recent years.”
Hum, might be why social efforts of Google are scary…
(Just kidding)
Huge. Best of luck with the new adventures, and yes small companies are definitely better
Google started small, look at what a giant it has subsequently become by being the right organisation in the right place at the right time etc.
Going for a new job away from the relative security like your previous employer.
Now is probably the ideal time.
If irony rules, then your company will be brought out by Google in a couple of years for $millions !!
Come work for MySpace you rock ! We are kind of small now !
Ya, best of luck.
Once Matt Cutts decides to bail for greener pastures too, who the heck will we know there anymore?
Yes, they’ve got plenty of geeks left (and I use that as a good term), but this many high-profile folks bailing doesn’t look good.
Kevin, best of luck! Yahoo is a lot smaller than Google these days too.
Translation: He found out Google doesn’t really care about “social openness” but just as a thing to try and crush Facebook. Then he found out that Facebook isn’t the evil personal-information-hogging devil that Google internal propaganda tries to make it out to be, so now he’s disillusioned with everything and is going to start his own company.
lol
Excuse me (and apologies for the sensetive folk reading here) but fuck that for a game of soldiers!
Google might not care about social openness, and they’ll probably dispute that, but claiming FB isn’t the evil personal-information-hogging devil — never mind what Google says, they leak privacy like nobody’s business…
Maybe they (we all, even) need just the kind of open social that he espouses…
Ba ba butterface!
He should make a Facebook/Twitter killer that doesn’t suck.
LOVE Kevin. Whatever he decides to do will be golden.
Sounds like someone has a McMan Crush Deluxe.
OpenSocial is a piece of junk. It is neither open nor is it social. Google has better things to promote now.
That guy is a “social force?” I am afraid to imagine what the nerdy ones are like.
Of course he’s a social force. Didn’t you see his cape?
that 4 tru
Google started small, look at what a giant it has subsequently become by being the right organisation in the right place at the right time etc.
Going for a new job away from the relative security like your previous employer.
Now is probably the ideal time.
If irony rules, then your company will be brought out by Google in a couple of years for $millions !!
OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi
At what point does a company get too big?
“Come work for MySpace you rock ! We are kind of small now !”"
but myspace will still sucks.
Google seems to be hemorrhaging some of that startup talent. Its great though, gives the younger, more eager employees a chance to excel.
Google is Google Cool…!!