Breaking News for Google: Happy Holidays
We are doing a short update on the Things Google have been up to over the period leading up to Christmas. During the 2011 Holiday Season Google provided it’s searchers with small but interesting features. This Holiday Season turned out to become a game of exploration. Many people have kept tabs on Google to find out with what they are going to come up with next.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
First Google introduced small things into their search results like the “Christmas” and the “Santa” search. If you search for “Christmas” or “Santa” in Google, the search results were decorated with Christmas Lights and Christmas Decorations. The Christmas decorations make the page look slightly more interesting.
If we are honest about the
Google Christmas Lights and Decorations
it does not have the “WOW” factor. Google have chosen to use very “Plain Graphics” to celebrate the Holiday and Christmas season. If it were another Search Company one would expect more extravagant graphics.
But the Christmas Lights and Decorations are true to the Google that we have come to know over the years. There is success in simple and plain things, and it is my Believe that it is part of the reason why it became one of the most talked about and searched campaigns this year.
Let it Snow
If we look at the “let it snow” snow page that Google have created, then we will find that the coding used to create the snow effect are actually old – legacy code that webmasters have used several Christmases ago.
It was nice, but people did not really talk about it. This year Google have taken the same concept and made it into one of the most talked about and search campaigns this year. Just like a game, people found out from friends and the media that Google have the “let it snow” pages. Thousands of Explorers and Searches quickly picked up on the rumors and searched for the “let it snow” pages to see for themselves what Google are up to.
Let it Snow goes viral
In the image above it is evident that the search term “let it snow” have never been searched for so many times as during December 2011 when Google launched the “let it snow” feature!
In it’s time the Christmas Carol “let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” were at the top of the music charts on several occasions. Some of the best artists and song writers have performed the song. The long list of artists include Kylie Minogue, The Puppini Sisters and Lady Antebellum, Mika, Celtic Woman, Neil Sedaka, Jessica Simpson, Michael Bublé, Chicago, Ed Ames, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Doris Day, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra.
One of the reasons why the song has been so popular is because of Christmas day and the White Christmas tradition. In the American Culture part of the Holiday celebrations is the expectation of Snow falling the evening of the day before Christmas. When you wake up the morning of Christmas there needs to be snow outside.
Let it Snow on YouTube
On the 22 of December 2011 YouTube added a Let it Snow button on the YouTube player. This came unexpected and again let to millions of people talking about the let it snow button in YouTube. The button is next to the “minimize” and the “maximize” buttons.
If you click on the Snow Icon, it will start snowing in the YouTube video. The longer you watch the video the more snow will accumulate over the video!
Let it Snow Video not on all YouTube videos:
The YouTube snow icon at the time of writing this article were still not available on all the YouTube videos and we are not sure if the “let it snow” icon will reach all people before Christmas day. For possible reasons why the YouTube let it snow might not work check out the article
.
Chrismas on Google – Happy Holidays
Today 23 December 2011, the Google doodle also changed to the
Google Doodle. The message on the “Google Doodle” are plain just saying Happy Holidays, Yet this message along with all the small special features that Google have added to their Search engine this year added to the “Christmas and Holiday Season spirit and the joy of giving during the Holiday Season!
Google and Gmail Call a Santa Free Christmas Card
Google have also suprised searchers this year with their Free Santa Christmas Card services. The site is run by the “Send a Call from Santa” web site. The Sponsor of the free Christmas Card service is Gmail. The service allows you to send a Free Santa Christmas card that you can personalize from the options they provide you with in the “send a call to Santa” application.
For more information on how to “Send a Call to Santa” you can read the article we did earlier this week about the
. We have also created a short video showing you the basics of using the Send a Call from Santa services and showing you how the send a Call from Santa Christmas card looks like. You can watch the video on YouTube on the
site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlzVvWTYDGs
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