Networking at Google Cambridge Through Glass & A Call for Facial Recognition

Google has expanded and unified their Cambridge, MA offices which of course is a great reason for a customer appreciation and site tour. The PR team got this one right! I was actually surprised when a month ago, I received a save the date email from my Google contact.

Mostly they seem to give five days notice, then wonder why turnout is low at events like the private Glass Explorers’ night that Luke Baran wrote about here. But Tuesday, Google Cambridge was full-to-overflowing with customers and partners invited by Googlers.

And Googlers like their food. We were served amazing lobster rolls, veggie choices and espresso martinis. But how cool to have a kitchen within 150 feet of every desk! Yes, they really do have mini-kitchens everywhere with fully stocked refrigerators and candy counters. The fattening choices are hidden behind frosted glass or opaque jars, while the healthier stuff is out in the open.

The evening followed a daytime press tour which Dennis Keohane of the Globe writes about at BetaBoston.com. His slideshow of the MBTA themed offices is worth a visit.

Google Glass for Networking

I do want to emphasize the potential power of Google Glass as a networking tool. This is when I wear Glass the most. The novelty will wear off one day in the future, but for now I love the ice-breaking effect my Glass has. With folks that have never seen it before, I get the “You’re the first person I’ve seen wearing Google Glasses” reaction. That is followed by my 15-second Glass pitch, maybe a screencast on my phone and if time permits, a short try-on demo.

The August 5 Google Cambridge event was no different. What was surprising to me? I saw not one Googler wearing Glass and had a few want to discuss my Glass experiences. The Googlers are also intrigued by my GPOP skins, which I change based on event or remove entirely when I hope to be a little less obvious.

Networking is a business lifestyle for those of us in marketing, start-ups and continual learning. But many of us do not possess the name recognition skills which make networking more successful. Glass should and can easily have facial recognition, but Google forbids this game-changer from being developed and deployed to Glass. I understand privacy concerns and, more importantly, I understand Google’s attempts to control public perceptions of Glass. But Google has failed miserably in communicating the Glass experience to a public who wants it to succeed, even though they mostly have no idea what Glass does. The public already thinks I am Googling them when I look their way. The second most common question I get is, “Are you Googling me now?” I like to ask, “Are you someone I should Google?”

But, due to a total lack of launch marketing on Google’s part, folks already think the camera is always recording. Google would say that it is just a beta and not a launch, but one does not put this sort of bleeding edge tech in the hands of 10,000 geeks and expect it to not be questioned. Glass needs a marketing reboot and Google needs to involve Explorers because we are the focus group that has been out there in the field for over a year.

But back to facial recognition. Glass in professions such as medicine and public safety will be a game-changer, but Google put this tool out in the wild in order to find the mass market hot spot. Hands-free photography is awesome for outdoors enthusiasts and parents of little ones. Location-aware notifications will change travel and tourism forever as we learn about those little places we walk by but don’t make it into the travel guides. Those are great tools and reasons enough for Glass and its successors to flourish. But the third mass market is business people such as myself, who meet hundreds of others each week. The numbers must be staggering and I wonder what statistics Meetup has on those millions who embrace technology to enhance real-world interactions. Facial recognition of my contacts is already there when I upload a photo to Facebook, Instagram and Google+.

A Call for (Limited) Facial Recognition

What I want from Glass is a system which only works with the contacts I already have on my phone and in the Google ecosystem. I don’t want to know the name and details of a stranger I am meeting for the first time. That information needs to freely come from them as I add them to my contacts and I can recognize and remember their name the next time. I manage a Meetup group of over 200 Glass enthusiasts and that is just one group of folks I meet with periodically. I see no invasion of privacy if Glass hits on my contact list and speaks a name into my ear. Yes, it might be a battery killer, but maybe not if the screen remained off. I ask every person who asks about facial recognition if they’d object if I was able to recall them from my current contacts. Every single one. No exceptions. They all have said that not only would that be cool, it would be a great reason to buy Glass.

Google! This is a classic marketing case where you can take what ’til now has been a negative and turn it into the positive that drives Glass desire. The public already think we are scanning them with Glass. Make it so. Make it locked down to existing contacts and show the world how this amazing technology will one day change their lives.

I would love to hear what others think in the comments.