Google brain drain to Facebook continues

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

May 6, 2008, 12:12 PM

Elliot Schrage, Google's former vice president of global communications and public affairs will take a comparable position at Facebook.

Schrage will report to Sheryl Sandberg, who also recently migrated to the social networking site from Google to serve as its chief operating officer.

Sandberg had nothing to do with the hire according to All Things Digital. Instead, Schrage approached CEO Mark Zuckerberg directly about the position, according to the site.

Either way, the continuing move of high-level executives from Google to Facebook is likely to worry some at Mountain View. While it can't quite be classed as an exodus, a handful of others have also made the move, including Ben Ling, now director of platform product marketing, and Ethan Beard, Facebook business development director.

"This is a really important role for us and one that we've been trying to find the right person for a while," Zuckerberg said in an e-mail to employees announcing the hire. "Elliot's role will be critical to helping us scale based on our culture that values transparency, openness, and honest internal communications."

Some have posited that the "startup" feel to Facebook's working environment is what has been drawing the execs in. Indeed, it's a quality that has been missing from Google for quite some time.