interesting timing of this "blog post"...Facebook's PR machine has been known to go to great extents in the past. Hopefully the author was not influenced by that.
It was an interesting read, and thanks for coming here to talk about it! There were a few questions that came to mind...
- In what ways does Facebook prioritize social science over technology? By all accounts it's just as engineer-driven as Google.
- Also, you seem to have pivoted away from research upon your arrival. Does Google not allow researchers to transition into product development? Would that have been a desirable path for you?
- Finally, did you leave Google before or after you knew about the Google+ launch, and is there any part of you that wishes that you retained some input into the product? It is quite evident that it was built centrally around the results of your research, and I wonder what it must feel like to be working for a competitor when the product of your vision finally goes live and reaches 10 million users.
It is funny: Everybody assumed you are responsible for the newest-cool-thing-feature in social networking and are now bringing the light to Facebook. But instead you are working in a rather different area.
that's good to know. were you able to get clarification around who "owns" the work produced while being employed by a company? based on my understanding in CA the company owns pretty much everything unless you can prove without doubt that it was done outside of work/work resources.
It is a lot more likely that the discussions generated by Prasanna's blogpost (http://rethrick.com/#google-plus) probably prompted this "clear the air" kind of update.