Google Hires Silicon Valley Tech Blogger Louis Gray as Google+ Evangelist

Notable Silicon Valley tech blogger and startup consultant Louis Gray is finally turning his passion for Google’s products and services into a career. Gray has just accepted the position of Product Marketing Manager on the Google+ team, an evangelist role involving the promotion of Google’s new Facebook competitor, Google+.

The role is loosely defined, but will involve working with Google+ engineers to improve the product, setting future goals for Google+, and, most importantly, promoting the social network whenever and wherever possible. This latter duty will also involve speaking about Google+ at events and trade shows, says Gray.

The job was custom-built for Gray, who has been covering Google’s technology and innovations, among other things, on his personal blog for quite some time. But Gray is not your typical Google “fanboy,” it should be noted. In fact, not too many months ago, one could have accused him of being in Apple’s camp instead.

Sometime in 2009, however, his Apple devotion began to waver. Gray began to feel Google’s pull, and openly wondered if he, a self-described “Mac guy,” would be “going Google” in the near future.

“Google is growing on me in a big way, and they are the real alternative [to Apple] – something Microsoft never really was,” he wrote on his blog.

Soon thereafter, Gray traded in his iPhone for an Android device. And by year-end, he was happily promoting Android as worthy iPhone competitor, saying it could now go “feature by feature against iPhone,” making smartphone choice a matter of personal preference. But even as he typed away on his Google Chrome CR-48 review unit (the demo hardware featuring Google’s cloud-based Chrome operating system), he still found himself purchasing Apple products, like the iPad, Apple TV and MacBook Air.

These days, though, you’re more likely to find him using Chrome OS, Android phones and tablets, posting on Google+…oh, and collecting these cute Android figures.

Prior to Google’s hiring, Gray was the managing director of his own company, Paladin Advisors Group, an independent strategic advisory firm for startups. Paladin’s lead clients for the past year have been car care resource provider RepairPal and My6Sense, a mobile app whose goal is to uncover the most relevant content from your social networks and RSS feeds.

Gray also holds equity in Teens in Tech, MyLikes and SocialToo, all of which he scrupulously disclosed whenever he mentioned them or their competition on his blog. Up until 2009, he held a day job as the Director of Corporate Marketing for NAS provider BlueArc, too.

Gray says that he hopes to continue blogging (disclosures intact) and providing free advice to startups in his spare time. However, that time may be hard to come by given Google+’s growth in recent weeks, we think.

Disclosure: Louis and I used to podcast together, along with others.