Google mania

Last month, Google announced that they are planning to build and test high-speed broadband networks in a couple of trial locations across the United States.

Google's blog post and the above Youtube video set a media circus in motion. Just type in "Google", "fiber", and "hope" into Google News and you'll see for yourself.

US cities are making up crazy publicity stunts, hoping to be the first city for Google's experimental fiber network. How are they attracting Mighty Google's attention?

Well, the city of Topeka, Kansas, temporarily changed its name to Google. For the month of March, the city is called "Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics".

(Picture source)

In response, the city of Duluth, Minnesota, took it one step further. It announced that every first born male in Duluth shall be called “Google Fiber” and every first born female shall be named “Googlette Fiber”. A parody video response was posted on Youtube, successfully promoting the city's campaign website for the fiber network.

Let's see what other cities will come up with to top this. I'm sure they won't just let Topeka and Duluth steal all the focus. All we have to do is wait for another funny Youtube video message or public announcement!

This is really turning into a crazy city rivalry, using media to gain people's and Google's attention. What's more, Google is having cities fight over a fiber network that doesn't even exist yet. Brilliant. All this is generating a lot of free and very creative publicity for Google!