If you’ve ever wanted to have a say in what Google does next, a visit to Matt Cutts’s blog may be in order.  This afternoon, Cutts published a post asking readers what actions they’d take as Google’s CEO, and although no official contest is in effect (and Eric Schmidt’s definitely not stepping aside), the question may be more than random link bait.

Interested?  Cutts wrote, "I’d like to know: what products would you launch?  What ideas would you fund? . . . .  I’m specifically interested in Big Ideas.  Things like data liberation or self-driving cars.  Or what’s the one huge feature missing from a Google product?  In essence, what are the big products, features, or ideas that you would like to see Google work on?"

Fair warning: don’t bother trying to get Google to perfect a $500 Ferrari.  Or build a spaceship, however cool that would be (and the company could probably do it, with its NASA connections and market cap of $190 billion).

In the comments section, Cutts clarified, "I don’t want stuff so blue sky (e.g. solving all energy problems) that we’re not even sure whether it’s possible.  But concrete stuff like Scott’s ‘surface analytics about my time that would help me improve my life’ or Lauren’s suggestion [covering customer support] are the sorts of things I’d love to hear. . . .  Maybe a good idea/proposal is something that 1 to 20 people could deliver in 2011 if they really worked hard?"

So perhaps the whole "CEO of Google" setup aimed a little too high.  Still, that "1 to 20 people" remark makes it seem much more likely that Google will actually accept someone’s recommendation.

Good luck making the cut (and receiving some sort of reward) if you decide to volunteer an idea.