Google hires 4chan founder Chris Poole (aka ‘Moot’) to help with Google+ and Photos
In an interesting move by Google, the internet search giant has just hired 4chan founder Chris Poole — aka “Moot” — to help bolster the company’s social offerings. Although his exact position within Google wasn’t mentioned, Google+ founder Bradley Horowitz announced the news on Twitter, where he said he was excited to have Poole on the team.
You may have seen the news (https://t.co/jwjOBocqJk) from @moot. Thrilled he's joining the team! Welcome Chris!
— Bradley Horowitz (@elatable) March 7, 2016
Born and raised in New York, Chris Poole is known for creating 4chan — the infamous “image-based bulletin board” known for housing some of the internet’s most vile and unsavory characters — he founded back when he was barely 15. Poole announced the news on his personal blog (linked above in Horowitz’s tweet) where he says he “can’t wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities”. Here’s the short blog post:
“Today I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined Google.
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.
I can’t wait to contribute my own experience from a dozen years of building online communities, and to begin the next chapter of my career at such an incredible company.”
According to Business Insider, Poole will be working under Horowitz on Google Photos and Streams which we saw form out of breakup of Google+ last March. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of the hire, especially considering 4chan’s seedy reputation.