Have you ever clicked the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google? You type in something to search in the Google text box, and below the search are two options: "Google Search" or "I'm Feeling Lucky". I've never tried it. I always picked "Google Search". For years, I had it in the back of my mind that some day, I would try that Lucky thing out. I'd take a risk. Whoah. But never have.
I finally got up the courage to go for it. I was feeling lucky, and I wanted to know where that damn button took me. Problem is, you can't click it anymore. Try it. Type something into Google, and try to click the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Aha! Search results automatically brought up. How efficient. I waited too long! Turns out the Lucky button cost Google $110 million a year in lost ad revenue because it took people directly to the top search site. No ads. But the button is still there. Why does Google keep it, if you can't actually choose it? It makes them seem human. Whimsical. Fun. Less corporate. Less multi-billion dollar. Less bland.
We live in a world of knowns. We can find the answer. To anything. It's all there. No need to feel lucky. You just type in the question and the answer pops up. Instantly. No need to think really. No need to recall. To question without the answer. Just to question. Have you ever been in a situation where a question comes up that nobody knows the answer to, and there's no internet? No way to Google the answer. And everybody stands there looking at each other, like, well, maybe we just talk about what could be the answer. The possibilities. The unknowns.
And when you can't Google. Or choose not to. Savour it. Relish in the not-knowing. Explore it. Embrace it. Dive in like a kid in those balls in a McDonald's PlayLand. And have fun in that space: the wilderness of not-knowing, of discovering something by actually talking to other people who also don't know. And see what happens. Maybe you'll get lucky.
I have a friend that uses a "3 things before google" rule when he's with others - we can call a friend, discuss it, look it up in a book, ask a stranger... but no one can pull out their phone or computer. He swears by it and pretty much every time comes up with a really great satisfying answer.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking these posts, keep up the writing!
-Katie German
And they have slides and a napping station with hammocks at the Google headquarters in CA!
ReplyDeleteI read once that "I'm Feeling Lucky" was programmed to take you directly to the first site of the search. Which is usually the one that spent the most money on marketing, which means the most corporate site. I felt robbed of some kind of illusion of 'fate by google' when I found that out. If we call it the "I'm Feeling Gullible" button does it make you feel better for missing your chance? It was probably a stroke of Googlefate that led you never to press it :P
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