With the rise of Social Media, there also
comes the expansion of connectivity that allows practically everyone to
participate in worldwide campaigns.
These digital mediums have garnered support by the millions for
movements such as Bully-Prevention, Natural Disasters Recovery, Cleaning the
Earth Initiatives, and more. The ability
to easily bring so many people together has also opened the path for multiple cultures to share in the
celebration of various holidays. For example, we can always depend on Google to modify the design of its homepage in conjunction with a multitude of events throughout the year: from the birthdays of famous people like Jim Henson and Dr Seuss, to more popular dates like Valentine's Day and Christmas. This
year it was YouTube, one of the more world-renowned branches of Google, who rang in April Fool’s
Day with perhaps the most creative prank on the internet.
YouTube's administrators released a video stating that the website’s launch in
2005 was all part of a contest to find the “Best Video” in the world. After reviewing every video ever uploaded,
they would narrow down the nominees before deleting everything and shutting
down the website for good. The winner of
the contest would be announced years later in 2023, when the website would re-launch
with a remarkable depletion in content, save for one…special….video.
Needless to say, YouTube users were
quite aware that this announcement was obviously a ruse. Still, the sheer amount of realism and effort
that went into crafting the joke is enough to give the website high accolades for
being a Master-Prankster this year.
