Earth Hour: If Not For Google, I Would Be In The Dark

Jumping online to search out some info this morning, the Google home page (see screen shot below) made me aware of something I haven’t heard anything about. I found out about Earth Hour.

Google’s Summary: On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Now I’m not overly connected in the news world, but in reading the USA Today daily (hard copy and feeds), the Minneapolis Star Tribune daily, watching television news and browsing a few of the national and international news websites, I had heard/read/seen NOTHING about this.

Running into this on Google gave me two thoughts:

1. How did I miss this in other news sources? Did they just not promote it?
(I have seen 50+ stories, tv segments and posts on Britney Spears on HIMYM)

2. Just how much reach does Google have for promotion and information delivery like this?
(Answer: A LOT!)

Something that other media outlets didn’t reach me with came to me from a website that I search for information on. But this time it was flipped a bit and they gave me information without me searching for it. What could this exposure do for other initiatives or causes? If Google featured an organization, event, non-profit or cause daily … or even weekly, just imagine the exposure level it could bring for them. If they went as far as changing the visuals like the black screen for Earth Hour … wow, they basically made me investigate Earth Hour just to learn why they went black. Thats powerful.

Just a few things to think about, and another angle to think about on Google’s future. With the traffic and audience they have, they can make a big deal out of whatever they want. Thanks to them making a big deal out of earth hour, my house will be dark from 8pm to 9pm central tonight up here in Minnesota.