Facebook raids Google for another exec
By Michael Estrin
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Score another one for Mark Zuckerberg, who has once again managed to lure away a key executive from Google while he and his cohorts try to figure out how to ease Facebook's transition from red-hot startup to digital powerhouse.

Ethan Beard, the former director of social media at Google, will become the newest addition to Facebook, which recently enticed sales star Sheryl Sandberg to serve as COO.

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, a "sizeable number" of employees have made the move from Google to Facebook, although both companies declined to give specifics.

The influx of Google veterans, many of whom began working for the search giant during its salad days, is expected to help Facebook turn its promise into profit. But before Facebook can emerge as a true web titan, it must figure out how to fully monetize the social networking space. So far, attempts by Facebook to do just that have met with resistance from users and sparked more than a few controversies.