How Big of a Priority is Social to Google? Really Big

When people started using the name Google as verb, we knew the company would be the king of the internet. They’ve dominated search, colonized online advertising and had a fairly happy reign over their subjects.

However, there is one kingdom Google just can’t seem to conquer: Social.

The company has made many attempts into the social sphere with little solid success. (See: the purchase of Picasa, purchase of social networking site Jaiku, Buzz, etc.) Their latest attempt, a tool we reported about two weeks ago called +1 (read: Google’s +1 and What it Means for Adwords)  is another step to make the search engine a more socially savvy entity.

But as we’ve learned from Business Insider, new CEO Larry Page isn’t banking on the fact that +1 will become a successful social platform overnight. In fact, he’s giving Google employees added incentive to make social happen for Google.  The first week of April Page announced, via memo pictured above, that all employees “will have their 2011 bonuses either go up or go down as much as 25% depending on how well Google “perform[s] against our strategy to integrate relationships, sharing and indentity across our products.”

How about that to light a fire under some, well you know.

I point this out, because what it illustrates is the fact that Google is no longer simply banking on their incredible ingenuity. Instead they’re turning to their own employees to help start a trend and a movement to push family and friends into the Google social mix.

Page wrote to employees saying, “”When we release products, try them and encourage your family and friends to do the same.”

And really, ain’t nothing wrong with that. Isn’t that in fact what social is all about? Sharing and encouraging others to check something out and take action?

As Google employees work to make those year end bonuses a reality, we as data-driven marketers can likely expect to hear more about this from our own Google reps, as it’s a natural extension to make sure that their clients and advertisers jump on board to support these initiatives financially.