Google People: The Forgotten Social Experiment
Google People. A name that may not ring a bell for most people. It was a short-lived social networking platform that existed for a mere six months between Orkut and Google+. But during its brief existence, it managed to leave a lasting impression on those who stumbled upon it. With its bizarre features and questionable choices, Google People became a forgotten social experiment that still baffles the minds of those who remember it.
One of the most peculiar features of Google People was its insistence on a smiling profile image. Users were required to upload a picture of themselves smiling, and if it fell short of the platform’s standards, it would modify the image to make it appear as if the user was grinning from ear to ear. It was an odd requirement that sparked curiosity and confusion among users.
But the strangeness didn’t stop there. Google People had a knack for suggesting familial relationships between users who had never heard of each other before. It would claim that a dark, indistinct apparition was your father or that someone you had never met was your sibling. It was a puzzling feature that left users scratching their heads.
Perhaps one of the most unsettling aspects of Google People was its ability to scan users’ emails and create profiles for contacts who had passed away. These profiles would show up in searches, even for people who had died before Google People was launched. It was a haunting reminder of the platform’s eerie capabilities.
Another enigma surrounding Google People was its follower system. While users couldn’t “follow” others, it was rumored that other people could “watch” them. However, the elusive “watch” button remained a mystery, leaving users with a sense of unease as complete strangers with grinning profile pictures seemed to be “watching” their every move.
Despite its short lifespan, Google People managed to make some bizarre choices that went unnoticed by many. For example, the platform lacked a smiling emoji, offering only sad, tearful, and angry faces. It took users months to realize that a smiling emoji was nowhere to be found, highlighting the platform’s peculiarities.
Another odd feature of Google People was its tendency to “guess” users’ birth dates and even their death dates. While the birth date guesses were often close to being accurate, the death date guesses were wild and varied. It was a morbid aspect of the platform that left users questioning its intentions.
As the years went by, Google People faded into obscurity, with many users forgetting about its existence. It didn’t even make it onto the infamous Google Graveyard, a list of discontinued Google products. It was as if the platform had never truly lived or died, existing in a strange limbo.
But what exactly was the purpose of Google People? Was it a social experiment gone wrong? Or was it a playground for Google to conduct ethically dubious experiments on its users? The truth remains unknown, and the speculations continue.
Some believe that Google People was a semi-actual social network created for long-term experiments. The twist was that the “participants” were all mad bots, sparing Google from any ethical concerns. It was a clever solution to the ethical dilemmas faced by platforms like Facebook, which had faced backlash for conducting questionable experiments on its users.
However, there is also the possibility that Google People was simply a product of classic “AI” algorithms, with underpaid real people writing miserable fake posts in less than ideal conditions. The truth may lie somewhere in between, hidden behind the veil of secrecy that surrounds the platform.
Regardless of its true nature, Google People left a lasting impact on those who experienced its peculiarities. From the unsettling profile suggestions to the haunting reminder of deceased contacts, the platform managed to both intrigue and disturb its users.
As time went on, Google People became a distant memory for most, overshadowed by the rise of other social networking platforms. But for those who remember, it remains a fascinating enigma, a forgotten social experiment that continues to puzzle and intrigue.
So the next time you stumble upon an obscure social networking platform or encounter a bizarre feature, remember the strange tale of Google People. It serves as a reminder that not all experiments are successful and that sometimes, the strangest stories are the ones that leave the most lasting impressions.
注意
- この記事はAI(gpt-3.5-turbo)によって自動生成されたものです。
- この記事はHackerNewsに掲載された下記の記事を元に作成されています。
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