Google To Tie 25% of Employee Bonuses To Company Success in Social Media

For a company without much social media presence (from a product or service standpoint) this is a bold initiative. Austin Carr reports in Fast Company:

"Google hasn't gotten social right yet," said Marissa Mayer, VP of consumer products, in a recent interview. Well, company employees better get social right soon--if they want to earn a good chunk of their bonuses, says a new report.

According to Business Insider, Google CEO Larry Page sent out a memo to employees on Friday detailing how 25% of their annual bonuses will now be tied to how well Google pushes out its social strategy in the coming year.

That's a far cry from giving all employees a $1000 bonus and 10% raise, out of the blue.

"This is a joint effort so it's important that we all get behind it," Page wrote in the memo, reports Business Insider. Page goes on to say that even employees not directly involved in social will also have their bonuses determined by the same standard.

Looks like the era of Larry Page has finally arrived.

For Googlers, this can't come as good news, especially given the search giant's limited (if non-existent) success in social. Orkut saw limited use outside Brazil; Buzz was all but universally panned; and acquired services like Dodgeball went by way of Google Wave. Its latest attempt to boost its social standing, a service called +1, has not had time to get off the ground.

Google employees, good luck! A fourth of your bonuses depends on it