Google's hoaxes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Google has often adopted a light-hearted approach in a variety of circumstances. The most popular instances of Google Humor are the April Fool Jokes. Google has had a tradition of perpetrating April Fool's Day hoaxes.

Contents 1 Hoaxes 1.1 2000: Google MentalPlex 1.2 2002: Pigeon Rank 1.3 2004: Google Lunar/Copernicus Center 1.4 2005: Google Gulp 1.5 2006: Google Romance 2 Non-hoaxes 3 External links

Hoaxes

 

2000: Google MentalPlex

Google announced a new "MentalPlex" search technology that supposedly read the user's mind to determine what the user wanted to search for, thus eliminating the step of actually typing in the search query.

• Google MentalPlex
• Google MentalPlex FAQ

 

2002: Pigeon Rank

Google reveals the technology behind its PageRank System - PigeonRank. Google touts the benefits of this cost-effective and efficient means of ranking pages, and reassures readers that there is no animal cruelty involved in the process. The article makes many humorous references and puns based on computer terminology and how Google PageRank really works.

• Pigeon Rank

 

2004: Google Lunar/Copernicus Center

Fictitious job opportunities for a research center on the moon. Luna/X is the name of a new operating system they claimed to have created for working there.

• Google Copernicus Center

 

2005: Google Gulp

Google Gulp, a fictitious drink, was announced by Google in 2005. According to the company, this beverage would optimize one's use of the Google search engine by increasing the drinker's intelligence. It was claimed this boost was achieved through real-time analysis of the user's DNA and carefully tailored adjustments to neurotransmitters in the brain (a patented technology termed Auto-Drink). The drink was said to come in "4 great flavors": Glutamate Grape (glutamic acid), Sugar-Free Radical (free radicals), Beta Carroty (beta carotene), and Sero-Tonic Water (serotonin).

This hoax was likely intended as a parody of Google's invite-only email service called Gmail. Although ostensibly free, the company claimed the beverage could only be obtained by returning the cap of a Google Gulp bottle to a local grocery store: a catch-22. In the Google Gulp FAQ, Google replies to the observation "I mean, isn't this whole invite-only thing kind of bogus?" by saying "Dude, it's like you've never even heard of viral marketing."

• Google Gulp
• Google Gulp FAQ

 

2006: Google Romance

On April Fool's Day 2006, Google Romance was announced on the main Google search page with the introduction, "Dating is a search problem. Solve it with Google Romance." It pretends to offer a "Soulmate Search" to send users on a "Contextual Date". A parody of online dating, it amusingly had a link for "those who generally favor the 'throw enough stuff at the wall' approach to online dating" to Post multiple profiles with a bulk upload file, you sleaze in addition to Post your Google Romance profile. Clicking on either of these gave an error page, which explained that it was an April Fool's joke and included links to previous April Fool's Jokes for nostalgia.

• Google Romance™
• Google Romance™ FAQ
• Google Romance™ Tour

Non-hoaxes

Google has chosen April Fool's Day to announce some of their actual products. This marketing strategy is used to make people think that the product is a hoax, spread the word around and then to surprise them when they realize that it is actually real. On April Fool's Day 2004 (or rather, very shortly before midnight on March 31st), Google announced the launch of Gmail, making some believe it was a hoax as web-based e-mail with one gigabyte of storage was unheard of at the time. Further, in 2005 the increase of storage space to two gigabytes announced was also thought to be false. Also in 2005, Google released Google Ride Finder which was thought to be fake, but later turned out to be real.

• CNet News article on Gmail, Apr 1, 2004.
• Google Ride Finder

External links

• "Google's Gmail grows again" at The Register
• "Google to offer gigabyte of free e-mail" at CNET
• Googlejuice.co.uk Search Engine Research Blog

Google pages:

• Mentalplex Search Page, Mentalplex FAQ
• Google PigeonRank
• Google Copernicus Center
• Google Gulp official site
• Google Moon
• Google Romance