2001: An (online) Space Odyssey
What d’ya say we jump in the old DeLorean and set the Flux Capacitor to take us back to when the Internet was half the age it is today—back to 2001.
It doesn’t seem all that long ago, right? But in “Interactive years,” it might as well be the middle ages. For one thing, that was the year Google was born, and think about how that one event changed your life.
So what would you find in a Google’s search back in 2001?
A MediaPost article I came across recently said that if you would have typed “myspace” into Google’s query box back in 2001, you would have been led to a data storage site called freediskspace.com. “Facebook” brought up makeup manufacturers and a few odd links from Harvard and Princeton. And “youtube” had zero matches. There was no sign of “Wikipedia.” “Hulu” referred to a San Francisco-based Hawaiian dance company.
Okay, so the way we use the web has changed mightily. But what about the technologies that have come to mean so much to our lives? Well, “iPod” meant the Image Proof of Deposit Document Processing System. Whatever that is. “TiVo” took you to an investment banker (the company’s IPO was back in 1999). “Android” didn’t refer to mobile phones, but there was at least one reference to mobile robots.
In 2001, “Barack Obama” took you to the voting record of the Illinois state legislature and “John McCain” took you to listings relating to his first incarnation of the “Straight Talk Express” after falling short in the 2000 primaries. As for the veep candidates, “Joe Biden” had upwards of 700 results, while “Sarah Palin” would get you a goose egg (make of that what you will).
What about your favorite TV shows? “Heroes” brought up a page on Greek mythology, and “Entourage” brought up a site about a Microsoft e-mail manager.
There is one constant, though. Even back in 2001, there were Starbucks detractors. Back then, there was Starbucked.com.
So what was getting the hits back then? One of the subjects with the most result listings was “The Y2K bug” (remember that?).
Is there some sort of lesson in this look back? If so, it could be that consumers aren’t as static and non-movable as we sometimes make them out to be. They adapt to change easily and quickly. They are open to new ideas and platforms, so long as they will improve their lives. And brand devotion can be built (and spread) in a veritable heartbeat.
Oh, yeah. And what if you Googled “Quisenberry” in ’01? You’d get the lifetime statistics of a former major league pitcher…
Posted by Mickey
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