Google is trying to win back the developer community and in the best tradition of social media it has gone into listening-mode. To discover what developers want, it is inviting you to post your videos.
Google has been annoying developers of late. Not as much as other companies (including one whose name begins with O and has something to do with Java), but the nice cuddly relationship seems to have passed with the closing of Google Labs and price hikes for the App Engine.
Now it seems Google wants to start over and has set up a site so that you can upload your videos explaining why you are a Google developer and what makes that special. Apparently it wants to know what inspires us as developers and what we need. There are also plans to role out other parts of the site - news, tools, community.... and cake... (watch the video). But first a health warning: this video is so sugary-sweet that you could rot your teeth just looking at it.
The video is introduced with:
We've decided to take make some changes in the way we approach working with developers. Hear what's important to us and how you can get involved.
The website at http://developers.google.com/go/stories is a little thin at the time of writing and most of the videos are a little too reverential to be real - forgive me if I'm wrong. Google hasn't been stupid enough to allow the videos to appear without being "featured", so censorship rules in this case.
I wonder what will happen when the first developer posts something a little more robust?
The site says:
We want to know what inspires you as a developer and how can Google help. What does being a Google developer meant to you?
Like any good open source project, we need your contributions. Share your story so we can better support your success — and we may just pick you to be featured.
But will Google like what it hears and will it post anything that is more critical? As they say, "watch this space"... well Google's space at least.
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