Who is Chris Poole, and why has he joined Google
Who doesn’t know 4chan? Infamous for the crafting the rules of the Internet and being the birthplace of hacktivist group Anonymous, it has come into the news once more after Founder Chris Poole announced his decision to join Google via a blog post.
Google’s VP of Steams, Photos, and Sharing Bradley Horowitz confirmed the news in this tweet.
There is speculation that he might be helping in the revival of Google+. Chris Poole started 4chan when he was just 15 years old and was running the platform till January 2015.
“When meeting with current and former Googlers, I continually find myself drawn to their intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm — as well as a universal desire to share it with others. I’m also impressed by Google’s commitment to enabling these same talented people to tackle some of the world’s most interesting and important problems.” Chris said in his blog post.
Considering his background in building and managing communities and Bradley’s association with Google+ (Bradley Horowitz was the cofounder of Google+ along with Vic Gundothra), there have been speculations about Chris helping in reviving Google+.
Google+ started as Google’s attempt to counter Facebook on the social network front;however, it didn’t scale accordingly. Google+ was split into many services like streams, communities, and photos. While Google Photos did well, other services were less successful.
Eventually Google gave up its plan for the social network. Social networking is one area where Google has still to gain ground. In the past, Chris had criticised Google and Facebook for their identification policies.
4chan was launched on 1October 2003 as an imageboard. Initially, its purpose was to serve as a community around the discussion of Anime and Manga. The platform became famous as the birthplace of Anonymous and Chanology. 4chan has been at the forefront when it comes to creating new memes and popularising them.
From founding Anonymous – one of the most notorious communities on the Internet – to joining an extremely organised and globally valued community, Chris Poole’s journey has indeed been exciting.
