Google's referral process makes you describe exactly how you know the person and why you believe they'd be a good fit for Google. It's pretty hard to answer this well if you've just met, and your likelihood of making it past the initial screen is directly proportional to how well your referer makes this case. After a few too many people e-mailing random Googlers and saying "Please refer me to Google!", they added a checkbox for "I don't know this person" which lets you skip all the free-text narratives, but also means that the referral is effectively the same as if a recruiter had sourced your name off LinkedIn. (AFAIK you still get the referral bonus and they still get hired if it turns out they are in fact good, but the referral itself carries no weight.) I usually recommend that people get referred by the Googler who knows their work best; PMing or e-mailing random Googlers hoping to short-circuit the screening process doesn't really work.

I agree. Some are blessed with great connections. Others are not so lucky. This platform just provides more opportunities for those who seek it.