Because it gives a sense of transparency to the process, when in reality google is far from transparent. If they made a big deal about how no one could see the meetings behind the curtain, the secret mystique might erode some of google's goodwill in the eyes of the public - especially if the us govt got involved.
Most people, if they don't have a strong interest in tech & the Internet, only see the surface PR efforts, without having the background to notice that they're in fact heavily orchestrated PR.
The strategy certainly seems to be working thus far - but I feel they might be pushing it a bit recently. More people seem to be noticing and thinking about it.
Take a look at when google chooses to release news, especially "fun" news like robotic cars. They are great at the art of PR - which is not really a surprise if you own a tinfoil hat, because you never know - maybe they can get leading indicators through query & behavior mining across their dataset? :)
Most people, if they don't have a strong interest in tech & the Internet, only see the surface PR efforts, without having the background to notice that they're in fact heavily orchestrated PR.
The strategy certainly seems to be working thus far - but I feel they might be pushing it a bit recently. More people seem to be noticing and thinking about it.
Take a look at when google chooses to release news, especially "fun" news like robotic cars. They are great at the art of PR - which is not really a surprise if you own a tinfoil hat, because you never know - maybe they can get leading indicators through query & behavior mining across their dataset? :)