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This is probably one of the more embarrassing and shameful parts of Google's labor ecosystem. These "Google $title Experts" work as uncompensated customer supp

This is probably one of the more embarrassing and shameful parts of Google's labor ecosystem. These "Google $title Experts" work as uncompensated customer support (a legal requirement that they treat as such, if the quality is any indicator) on various social media outlets like Reddit and Twitter. They don't just provide free labor, they also go to bat for Google's reputation, acting as marketing and PR liaisons to prevent backlash from users who've been failed by their official support processes. One 'expert' I spoke with justified working for free by the "connections and access" they received. When I asked if Google would be flying them out to the events they have access to to meet with the people they have connections with, they said they were told they would have to cover their own travel and lodging. I suppose if Google doesn't pay them, they never have to worry about any Experts connecting and starting a union. We're talking about a multi trillion dollar company. Absolutely ridiculous.

kurupt213 5y ago
Like the Reddit super mods
rurp 4y ago
> They don't just provide free labor, they also go to bat for Google's reputation, acting as marketing and PR liaisons to prevent backlash from users who've been failed by their official support processes. This is so true. When I try to find a fix for some broken behavior in a major Google app the most common place I end up is a support forum with zero solution, no comment from any Google employee, and a volunteer support person saying how the defect isn't actually a problem but that you should submit feedback within the app. These volunteers can't be helping at this point. Google's disdain for users is pretty widely recognized by now and seeing a whole bunch of frustrated users being blown off yet again doesn't help.
rater266 4y ago
AOL got in hot water for this. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Community_Leader_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Community_Leader_Program
cyral 4y ago
90% of the time when I run into one of these "experts" on their support forum, the solution is just that the customer is wrong in some way and such feature isn't needed or something like that. Do these experts even have any access to help solve problems? I'm not sure what makes them so compelled to do this for free for one of the biggest companies ever.
- washadjeffmad 4y ago
  Google pays for support at different tiers from various locations, and the Experts usually have access to second tier support which is usually hosted in the US. They're supposedly ITIL, so they claim to use CSI to solve recurring problems, which is even worse, because now they're not compensating people for skilled non-entry level work. It's mostly nativity and being able to tell their families that they're "working with Google". First tier support is hosted primarily in India where they don't know who or how many are doing the work, and it's nearly impossible to get escalated as a customer to the correct support tier outside of their script. It's frustrating and mostly useless, but they can handle volume changes quickly at sub-human costs.

kurupt213 5y ago

Like the Reddit super mods

rurp 4y ago

> They don't just provide free labor, they also go to bat for Google's reputation, acting as marketing and PR liaisons to prevent backlash from users who've been failed by their official support processes. This is so true. When I try to find a fix for some broken behavior in a major Google app the most common place I end up is a support forum with zero solution, no comment from any Google employee, and a volunteer support person saying how the defect isn't actually a problem but that you should submit feedback within the app. These volunteers can't be helping at this point. Google's disdain for users is pretty widely recognized by now and seeing a whole bunch of frustrated users being blown off yet again doesn't help.

rater266 4y ago

AOL got in hot water for this. [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Community_Leader_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Community_Leader_Program

cyral 4y ago

90% of the time when I run into one of these "experts" on their support forum, the solution is just that the customer is wrong in some way and such feature isn't needed or something like that. Do these experts even have any access to help solve problems? I'm not sure what makes them so compelled to do this for free for one of the biggest companies ever.

washadjeffmad 4y ago
Google pays for support at different tiers from various locations, and the Experts usually have access to second tier support which is usually hosted in the US. They're supposedly ITIL, so they claim to use CSI to solve recurring problems, which is even worse, because now they're not compensating people for skilled non-entry level work. It's mostly nativity and being able to tell their families that they're "working with Google". First tier support is hosted primarily in India where they don't know who or how many are doing the work, and it's nearly impossible to get escalated as a customer to the correct support tier outside of their script. It's frustrating and mostly useless, but they can handle volume changes quickly at sub-human costs.