...Google's just down...

This morning Google had a hiccup and everything Google is down from YouTube to Gmail to Search to Blogger.

The funny thing about Google's little hiccup is the effect it is having on the online habits of people. This is a small sample of what I've witnessed in the last 25 minutes since Google's gone down:

• "Gmail" has become one of Twitter's "Trend Topics" as people freak out because they're GChat and Gmail has stopped working. There are also a lot of post that can be summed up by the following post I found: "Google isn't working, I don't know what to do..."
• A number of my friends' Facebook statuses have changed from the joys of their recent graduations to statements such as "What happened to Google?" or "The world is ending, Google's broken."
• My fellow McKinney-ites have been calling our IT department because "the internet is not working" only to be informed that the internet is working fine, just Google isn't working. (And to some of us, I think that is the same thing...)
• A friend of mine called my cell to alert me of the problem because she was unable to access work documents, emails, or calendar because they are all on Google.

I think it's interesting that people:

1. Can get this freaked out because they feel disconnected because a single server went down. the Apocalyspe
2. Can get this vocal about a service not working correctly...especially one that they don't have to pay for. 

I can't help but wonder: Has Google's dominance of the internet made people forget that you can use Yahoo and MSN to search, AIM to chat and Mapquest for finding your way? Does the Google-ifying of internet make it so the old adage "You get what you pay for?" is less relevant?

Maybe we shouldn't put all out "E-eggs" in one (free) basket.

A college friend of mine sent me this video about the progression of information technology and our global society. It was researched and created by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman.

Since I do reporting on advertising, I have a pretty good idea of how Google figures out what ads they should show you based on the words and topics you chat, email, and search. I've always thought of it as cool that something can be that personalized but never really took it pass that.

Then today a college friend was telling me about the ads that she saw after an email chain between 5 friends trying to figure out where to go to dinner. She said she saw ads for apartments and bars in Washington because we have a friend with "Arlington" in her email signature and the word "apartment" and "moving" came up a few times. "Google thinks we drink a lot and want to move to Arlington," she said. Her next one was about small business marketing, her profession. "Makes more sense."

This got me thinking: What does my Google ads say about me?

Google looks to see what you're doing online and then sends you things it thinks you'll be interested in based on your most recent past (and personally I believe that the best way to evaluate people is by their most recent past.) It's like a mirror of yourself based on your online activities. A distorted mirror, but one all the same.

Mine Gmail sponsored links for today:

• "Laugh, Don't Be Stressed - WorkingLunch.msn.com - Get Rid of Job Stress With Laughter & Watch New Office Comedy Skits"
• "Spring Fashion Trends - www.nordstrom.com/FashionWeek - NY Fashion Week videos & blogs. Be first to see Fall 2009 styles!"

What does the Google "mirror" say?: I'm stressed and I want to go shopping...sounds about right.

What do your Google ads say?

Since my name is "Adrianne" I can safely say that I'm probably in the first five contacts in most of my friends' phones, right behind the "Abbe"s and the "Adam"s. This position at the beginning of the alphabet helps for some things (can't think of any now) but it most often has the following effect: the "butt call."

Originally this phenomeon was lessened by the explosion of the Motorola Razor and finally I (along with the Abbes and Adams) could rejoice in the fact that the likilihood we would find 5 minute voicemails that could double as the voice over for a documentary titled "A day in the life of pocket lint" would be greatly diminshed. YAY!

Then entered the blackberry and later iPhones...and the "butt calling" was back. Boo!

Last week as I was, ironically looking at my cell phone bill and the random butt calls I had received, I saw this commerical from T-Mobile:

I'll agree with the girl in it.

YAY!!!!

Last week I headed into my local McDonald's to get a Big Mac, which I hate to admit falls into my top 10 favorite foods.  This particular McDonald's, which is the one closet to NC State University was torn down a couple months ago and rebuild to become a (drum roll please)...McCafe.  My experiences with McCafes are that the differences between them and their "not as chic" siblings can be basically summed up by the following: More coffee options, there are smoothies, some have lattes that you can tell came from a McDonald's, and sometimes there's a flat screen TV. According to the radio ads the idea is that the average person who likes coffee feels out of place with the coffee elitists at Starbucks and should start hanging out at McDonald's with the other average Joes instead. However the hard plastic seats, red and orange decor, and screaming children in the now indoor ball pen don't exactly say "I want to spend a lot of time here."

So I walked into the McDonald's and I had to do a double take (I must have looked like the guy in the Saturn commericals who asks "Are these all Saturns?") because I wasn't sure I was in a McDonald's.

Once I got over my shock of the decor and had ordered my Big Mac, I sat down on my green and brown padded seat and looked around at the groups of patrons. There was:

• An upper middle class looking family of 4 made up of a college student, his parents, and his much younger kids meal eating sister, all wearing NC State shirts, watching the end of the UNC basketball game and discussing the performance of the NC State team they had just watched at the RBC Center from their bottom level seats.
• A group of 8 teenage boys who sat and watched the game for 20 minutes after they had eaten, before deciding to brave the rain and ride their bikes home.
• Two students using the Wi-Fi with laptops who were feverishly working on some type of chemistry homework, glancing up at the TV to see the replays, and who thanks to the 6 trays that had collected on one side of their table had appeared to have ordered 3 rounds of food in the time they had been there.

Comfortable atmosphere + entertainment + cheap food + Wi-Fi + a friendly staff = a destination fast food resturant that gives an alternative to some of the sports bars, libraries, and apartments around campus.

Now this is McCafe people will hang out at / actively seek out and the patrons that were in there proved it.  Give them what they want and they will come.