I've been following tech industry for a while now. And the growth of new social networks interest me as they face an increasingly difficult problem - User Acquisition.
So in keeping with HN's interest, I chose the example of Robert Scoble. He figures prominently in most startups' launch plans. And thanks to the fact that he reviews "Upcoming cool startups/apps", he commands a legion of followers on the web.
When G+ launched a while back, It was easily the last thing one would use (as avid Twitter/FB users, it seemed like a duplication of existing networks). And Google seemed to lack one thing, User engagement. Even after they launced Games on G+ it still seemed plain. But I did notice a new trend on G+, Scoble was blogging about new startups/apps on G+, Photographers (Trey Radcliffe) were using G+ to post high-resolution pictures, and unsurprisingly Google employees (Steve yegge, etc) were ranting on G+ (most of which went viral).
This led me to suspect that there was a strategy to improve user engagement by having original content over there by Photographers, bloggers, engineers, etc to attract and retain users.
My question to fellow HN readers is this, do companies mandate employees to use their own products over their competitor's offerings. And if there exists a User Acquisition team that deals with getting interesting content over to that platform (Eg: Twitter's early high profile users) and engage them enough for them to stay over there.
His contract with Rackspace forbids him from doing such compensated work.