netpositive

Back in December I was asked by Liz Gannes of Red Herring who I thought would be the next Web 2.0 company to get bought by a portal. Without much deliberation I replied: “Measure Map. It’s just the right size, right timing and right space for a tidy acquisition.” It also had all the right buzz, cultivated through the careful seduction of A-list bloggers like Michael Arrington. Liz ran the quote in her article (“Hungry Hungry Yahoo”), as a counterpoint to the consensus that Technorati would be the first in line for a buyout.

Sure enough, after quiet speculation by gossip-mongers like Valleywag, Jeff Veen today appeared on the official Google blog announcing that Measure Map is now one of the family. In the background, Technorati suffered a noticeable braindrain with the loss of Niall Kennedy, Jason DeFillippo and Derek Powazek. Talk about turnabout!

But it does make sense for Google, if for no other reason than they need Jeff and his leadership. I have no doubt that he’ll raise the stature of user-centered design in that engineering-centric organization. Go Jeff, Go!