Former PARC visiting social software researcher and startup trobairitz Brynn Evans announced today that she has joined the social product group of the UX design team at Google. Evans says she was encouraged to interview by former collaborator and PARC Principal Scientist Ed Chi, who joined Google earlier this year. (Google Hires Twitter-Hacking PARC Scientist)
If Google is ever to effectively challenge Facebook and Twitter in social software, which is expected to be a key battleground in a world no longer dominated by atomized search experiences online, then hiring leading thinkers could be an important part of the company’s strategy.
Evans has been a frequent guest contributor to ReadWriteWeb, having published thoughtful articles here including:
- Why There’s Nothing to Fear in Social Search
- Social Relevancy Rank: What’s Missing?
- 3 Flavors of Social Search: What to Expect
- Social Shopping: Putting the Emotion Back in E-Commerce
Trained as a cognitive scientist at Stanford and UC San Diego, Evans joins a growing list of prominent hires by Google in recent months that will at the very least complicate the common saying that “Google doesn’t get social software.” Hopefully they can all work well together to move the social software world forward for all of us.
Photo of Evans used with permission from Tikva Morowati.
