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| Mies van der Rohe Doodle google.com |
Usually Google Doodles involving mid-century design/culture take me by surprise. Even though I do many biographical posts, remembering birthdays is not my strong suit. To be honest, I do well to remember the birthdays of my immediate family. So, no, I'm not waiting with bated breath to see what Google is going to come up with in honor of the next designer's birthday.
Instead, what alerts me is unusual activity on my blog. Yesterday when I woke up and did the obligatory check of email and the blog, I found that I had received almost 2,000 hits since going to bed a few hours earlier. The final tally for the day was over 6,000 hits.
I'm a little slow on the uptake, so I was puzzled until I started reading posts from my favorite fellow bloggers. After seeing several nods to the Google Doodle, the reason for the spike in hits was clear. This has happened a couple of times before...first when the Alexander Calder Doodle appeared, causing an incredible 17,000+ spike of my blog hits, and again the day the Marimekko Doodles ran, with a much smaller but still noticeable spike.
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| Calder 113th Birthday Doodle google.com |
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| Marimekko First Day of Spring Doodle google.com |
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| Marimekko First Day of Fall Doodle google.com |
Don't get me wrong. I'm not all about the numbers. The Google Doodles have an intrinsic coolness that can't be denied. Take, for instance, the interactive Doodles. You can watch a clip of I Love Lucy on the Doodle commemorating Lucille Ball's 100th birthday. Or you can record a tune on the Les Paul Doodle celebrating the guitar virtuoso's 96th birthday. Or you can even play PAC-MAN on the Doodle honoring the game's 30th anniversary.
But let's be honest. In the blogosphere, as well as in other social media, we love anything that drives traffic to our sites...and Google Doodles definitely do that. That makes them extra cool in my book.
17,000 hits in one day?! lol That's just a few thousand less than I've gotten the entire time my blog has been up.
ReplyDeleteThat was a total Doodle-fluke. I usually have anywhere from 1200-2000 hits a day...3000 on a really good day. So you can imagine that when I had a day like that, I was sure Blogger was on the fritz. My Calder post turned out to be on the first page of a Google search for his name. Thus the nutty number of hits on that particular Doodle day.
DeleteWow, I think I would pass out if I had that many views! That's a tribute to your great research and writing Dana!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the compliment...but I did just about pass out on that Calder day. I kept calling my SIL saying,"Are you watching this? My hits are going crazy. Blogger must have had a major meltdown." LOL
DeleteI agree about google doodles. I would be embarrased to share how many times I played that Pac Man! *haahhe*
ReplyDeleteCongrats on all the blog hits, that must have been exciting!!
haha I played it a few times myself...but then I remember playing Pac-Man on our Atari in the early 1980s. I love the Google Doodle of Lucy, and I don't even play guitar, but I've made lots of noise on the Les Paul one. :)
DeleteI still play pac-man on my i-phone. a bit modern but none the less, it's pac-man. Great to see your hits are up and well deserved!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you could play Pac-Man on iPhones. My SIL is talking about switching all of us over to iPhones, so that's another reason I'll enjoy having one. I'm sure my hits will return to normal in a day or two, but for now, it's nice to see them benefit from the Doodles.
DeleteCongrats on the hits! haha and the "I Love Lucy" google was my FAVORITE quickly followed by the "White Washing the Fence Tom Sawyer" one!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely knew the Lucy one would be your favorite !!! :)
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