Apr
01
Google knows its People
ByI call them people instead of customers, because you don’t actually pay to use Google. I use gmail and this morning, all of the vowels were missing from the site. I mean all of them. I sure this will be fixed by the time you have read this, but its kind of funny. You can’t send an email with vowels, you can’t read anything with vowels, and its a bit confusing. Of course, there’s a link on the homepage explaining the “vowel outage”. If you read it, you will see how good of a job Google does at recognizing problems, connecting with their users, and explaining what they know. I think its really cool and sheds some light on why and how Google is so successful.
5 Comments
April 19th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
These days, Google is so big I find myself viewing it as a front-runner for global domination rather than just a company providing a service. However, when Google engages the consumer like this, I feel like they are putting a face to their company. In a way, they are having fun and playing around with their customers (…or “people”, really). Was this “prank” done for a specific reason? charity? literacy awareness?
April 20th, 2010 at 10:08 am
I actually wrote this on April fools without realizing that it was April fools and thought that they were addressing a problem in a good way. They now explain that it was an April fools prank and I just didn’t pick up on that. I take back my support of this, that’s really more obnoxious than anything and doesn’t support anyone. Sorry! Please refer to my other post for good advertising.
April 27th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I agree with you Elizabeth, I think its really funny that some companies decided to spend money and time on April Fool’s jokes, especially in this economy. Its kind of great to see brands not taking themselves too seriously.
Kodak and Starbucks also played April Fool’s jokes on their customers. Starbuck’s announced the new drink sizes like the micra, plenty (solo cup size, and bucket (literally the size of a KFC bucket). Kodak introduced “Aromatography” on April Fools. I think it makes the brand more personable and show’s that they like a good joke too.
http://www.corporate-eye.com/blog/2010/04/brands-play-april-fools-jokes-too/
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Haynes, how funny that the google prank snuck up on you. I wouldn’t have realized it myself either. I enjoy the work that google does to engage with their users, such as changing their symbol for holidays and tributes. I like how they know how to influence their talkers. Even though this was a prank, it still got people talking. Even if you think it’s obnoxious Haynes, you are a talker! I don’t think this prank was for a specific reason, but I like how Elizabeth directed her attention to literacy awareness. It is great that it was an open invitation for people to analyze. Different interpretations can make their users more connected to google. Furthermore, google is also good at making the users feel special. For example, in gmail you can personalize your webpage and search engine, and with google buzz, they are definitely integrating important factors to engage in social media.
I also enjoyed Christina’s link. I have a friend who lives in Topeka and she told me about that prank and I noticed it was on the website. Great word of mouth!
May 4th, 2010 at 12:26 am
I really do believe it is the small things that companies do, such as playing April fools jokes, that sets them apart by engaging with their consumers. Googles prank and Christinas reference to the Starbucks prank are a quirky, fun way to connect with the customer and let them know that they not only know their customer but they know themselves, and they have a sense of humility. These kinds of things separate a company from being a big, massive, intimidating corporation to being REAL, to having a personality, and to being an important part of our everyday lives.