The startup community knows and loves Cambridge’s Microsoft N.E.R.D— they host hundreds of events, are a great resource for students, and sponsor some of our favorite Massachusetts innovation initiatives. With Microsoft’s N.E.R.D community support, we dismiss Cambridge’s Google Office for not being as engaged in Massachusetts’ community. Apparently, we were wrong: Yesterday, Google announced that they generated $2.2 billion worth of economic activity in Massachusetts over the past year.

The question has been asked over and over again, what has Google done for Massachusetts?

$2.2 billion in economic stimulation, that’s what.

Google Massachusetts’ sales director, Brian Schmidt boasted the $2.2B contribution yesterday during a press conference at Cambridge’s Pemberton Farms & Garden Center. Schmidt credited Google AdWords for Google’s contribution to Massachusetts economy, saying that 43,000 Massachusetts businesses (about 24%) use Google AdWords for marketing and sales, including Pemberton Farms.

With Google making similar announcements in 10 other cities, it sounds like they miss the spotlight and are pulling a well-executed PR move. Nice try, Google. Thank you for indirectly helping Massachusetts with AdWords, but what about the impact of Google’s ad platform on existing traditional advertising companies?

Are these the The Boston Globe and the Herald‘s lost ad dollars, taken by Google only to be presented back to Massachusetts on a silver platter? Whether you think the AdWords numbers are representative of a viable stimulus or simply a marketing ploy, there’s one piece of Google’s announcement that can’t be vilified: The $6.1 million in Google Grants handed out to some 230 non-profit entities in Massachusetts.

While $2.2B might be impressive, I can’t declare Google a winner over Microsoft for community engagement. Microsoft N.E.R.D has directly engaged Massachusetts’ students, entrepreneurs, business owners, and educators through their sponsorships, hosted events, seminars, not to mention the fact that the company’s employees regularly attend events outside of N.E.R.D like Yaddapalooza. Google, I don’t see you signed up for Yaddapooloza, but thanks for the $2.2B.

What do you think about Google’s announcement? Do you buy it? What would you like to see Google do for Massachusetts? Let us know in the comments.

Are you on Pinyadda? Continue the conversation about Google over there.