It’s Lights Out For Google…

I was just a bit confused today when I popped Google up for the first time. See, I have slightly bad luck with computer viruses (they love me) so any weird little thing my laptop does sends me into a 5 second internal panic.

Needless to say, going to Google.com and seeing a black background for the first time…well, ever, that I recall…messed with my head a bit, made me think someone may have done the impossible and hacked the crap out of Google.

Than I saw Google’s little message: “We’ve turned the lights out. Now it’s your turn - Earth Hour.”

Seeing as how I’ve been interested in the whole ‘going green’ phenomena for a while now and was even contemplating a “Going Green In The Office” post, I had to see what EarthHour.org was all about.

So I click, waiting with baited breath…only to be met with:

Lovely. Nothing like getting all hype about something online, only to be thwarted by that damn yellow, exclamation point-filled triangle.

I mean honestly, how many times has it been said – one of the fundamental rules of link baiting is making sure your server can handle the traffic!

And let’s face it – getting Google to sponsor your nonprofit organization/event is some darn good link AND traffic bait. I realize that it’s not Google’s fault that a third party website couldn’t handle their traffic – but still, they could have warned them. Google being the Internet behemoth that it is, I just expect more for them.

That being said, I was still able to see what Earth Hour was all about on a secondary site they had set up. How’d I find it? I googled that bitch of course! (Please excuse the language, it’s my day off).

So anyway, I guess I’ll turn my lights out tonight as well (8:00P sharp). I hope they don’t expect me to be turning the TV off. There’s a funny dude on Comedy Central tonight I want to check out.

Here’s a few tips and interesting facts I’ve read about ‘going green’:

• If 20 employees in your company turned off their computers during a lunch hour, you’d save 3700 watts of electricity within 60 minutes. According to Big Green Switch, a site with tips on greening up your lifestyle, that’s enough power to keep an energy efficient lightbulb burning for over eight and a half days.
• Go paperless when possible (using online faxing, electronic forms, read things online instead of printing it out, etc). IF you have to print, print on both sides of the paper, and use old printer paper for scrap paper. The Green Life by the Sierra Club has some other good tips on going green in the office.
• ABC.com’s spotlight on their ‘Carpoolers’ show even has a page with tips on how to start a car pool at your job. Needless to say, if many Americans would begin carpooling (or even telecommuting by working from home), vehicle emissions and pollutants would drop drastically.

Oh, and perhaps I should have introduced myself in the beginning here - I’m Ashley, the resident content developer, copywriter, SEO, PPC manager, keyword researcher…well, let’s just say I’m capable of doing a little bit of everything!

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