Google hires the founder of lawless site 4chan to help revive Google+
Google's long ailing social network, Google+ is about to get a little help from the guy who built one of the most infamous online communities.
Chris Poole, the founder of 4chan, a service perhaps best known for some of its users hacking celebrity nude photos, is joining Google's Photos and Streams team, the division that now oversees Google+ and other social products.
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Bradley Horowitz, the Google VP in charge of Photos and Streams, confirmed Poole's position on the team.
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The high-profile hire comes at a time when Google is shifting away from its failed efforts to build a Facebook killer and looking instead to create a social network focused around targeted interests and communities -- ranging from street photography to food blogging.
Think Pinterest, rather than Facebook.
A builder of online communities
If Google really wants to cement Google+ as a loyal and passionate online community for millions, rather than one long failed attempt to find a social media footprint, Poole isn't a bad bet.
For all the controversy surrounding 4chan, Poole is widely known for building up and managing an incredibly active (some might say rabid) community of 20 million monthly users.
"I can’t wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities, and to begin the next chapter of my career at such an incredible company," Poole wrote in a blog post Monday announcing his new job.
Poole founded 4chan more than a decade ago while still in high school and single-handedly presided over its rise.
While the engagement and community may have been enviable, 4chan's history of harassment was not. Poole, never one to espouse or endorse the views of his community, nonetheless preached the merits of anonymity to create a place online for that kind of discourse.
He stepped down from his role overseeing the community a year ago, just months after the infamous celebrity photo hack.
"I’ve never worked for someone before. I would like to," Poole said in an interview with Mashable at the time. "Are there other community apps or anonymous apps that would benefit from my decade of experience?"
We're about to find out.
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Topics Google
Seth Fiegerman was a Senior Business Reporter at Mashable, where he covered startups, marketing and the latest consumer tech trends. He joined Mashable in August 2012 and is based in New York.Before joining Mashable, Seth covered all things Apple as a reporter at Silicon Alley Insider, the tech section of Business Insider. He has also worked as a staff writer at TheStreet.com and as an editor at Playboy Magazine. His work has appeared in Newsweek, NPR, Kiplinger, Portfolio and The Huffington Post.Seth received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University, where he majored in journalism and philosophy.In his spare time, Seth enjoys bike riding around Brooklyn and writing really bad folk songs.
