Google Ball Doodle Debate Reaches a Fever Pitch

By: David Riedel
Topics: In The News

A tweet found on Google's official Twitter page, Sept. 7, 2010.

(Credit: CBS/Google)

Earlier Tuesday we wrote about the Google homepage illustration (or "doodle," as Google calls these things) that's sparked so many Google searches it popped up in Google Trends. By late morning, variations of "Google balls," "Google logo" and "Google dots" took up five spots on Google Trends' top searches.

The search - about the floating, size-changing, swooping balls that make up the word "Google" on the search page - is still popular Tuesday evening, and Google itself is mostly mum on the doodle's meaning, but the following tweet appeared on Google's official Twitter page by mid-afternoon: "Boisterous doodle today. Maybe it's excited about the week ahead..."

Thanks, Google. Way to torture your users even more.

Of course, "torture" is too strong a word. After all, we're only talking about dots that look like the plastic colored balls that kids jump into at an amusement park.

But what does that cryptic tweet mean? One thing's for sure: The logo has nothing to do the company's birthday, according to this post on searchengineland.com. (Google's official birthday is Sept. 27.)

The domain name google.com was registered on Sept. 15, 1997. Perhaps the tweet is a reference to the registration. Perhaps next week we'll all be a little wiser when it comes to "Google balls."

But the most popular theory seems to be that the logo is a reference to Google's September 8 search event. Last week the company sent out the invites:

So what's the story? Maybe Google will tell us all Wednesday. And hopefully the answer is as at least as fascinating as Tuesday's doodle.

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by Zann-Zel September 9, 2010 11:12 AM EDT: we need another election if people are spending this much time worrying about "google balls" LOL!; Reply to this comment


by phydeux2 September 8, 2010 6:07 PM EDT: Its the 2010 version of the old joke....

How do you keep an idiot in suspense?; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey September 8, 2010 12:19 PM EDT: [But what does that cryptic tweet mean? ]

what's the signifgance of 'any' tweet?; Reply to this comment


by hjay5 September 8, 2010 9:16 AM EDT: maybe its smart dust or motes.; Reply to this comment

by skeezix06 September 8, 2010 8:42 AM EDT

I don't care. Google is a lousy search engine.

Reply to this comment


by mitch0927 September 8, 2010 9:18 AM EDT: And you think Bing or yahoo is better? They take pages from Google's algorithm and call it their own. Or are you a coopernic fan? Take your hum drum where it belongs and that is the daycare center where you belong.


by bobnjersey September 8, 2010 12:21 PM EDT: [Google is a lousy search engine.]

and a horrible revenue generator as well apparently.

is this why the founders and early investors are worth billions?


by pvariel September 8, 2010 6:37 AM EDT: Well designed logo, Congrats to all team members. Keep it up. Keep going. Best Wishes.
Philip
http://knol.google.com/k/p-v-ariel/-/12c8mwhnhltu7/0#knols; Reply to this comment


by herbg3 September 7, 2010 9:26 PM EDT: Well, if you visit no person committee dot org and read the bottom post, you'll see where this "amazing" idea came from. Or, search Google for "dotsnotgoogle", an applet I wrote in 2005 that went viral in 2006. No credit or mention of me -- probably because Google just likes to take the free candy and doesn't pay for dinner.; Reply to this comment


by Nstevens012 September 7, 2010 9:07 PM EDT: By far the most interesting thing I've found on Google so far. Thank you google for the fun interaction. Keep it coming. Your eye-catching logos are wonderful.; Reply to this comment