A third the distance to the Sun. A third!!
February 23, 2011 3:29 AM Subscribe
Infographic tries to explain just how massive is Google, anyway? Did you know that charlie bit my finger is the most viewed YouTube submission of all time?
Did you know:
The very first Google storage system in 1996 was housed in Lego.
Google's first twitter post spells "I'm Feeling Lucky" in binary.
Over 1 trillion unique web URLs would stretch a third the distance to the sun?
Did you know:
This post was deleted for the following reason: Yeah, merits of the trivia set side entirely, this site seems like exactly the sort of douchetruck bad-for-the-web stuff we probably shouldn't be giving traffic to. -- cortex
twoleftfeet: "Did you know that charlie bit my finger is the most viewed YouTube submission of all time?"
That's only if you discount music videos submitted under the VEVO label. With those included, the Charlie one (original video here) drops to fifth place, with the most-watched submission ever being...
*drumroll*
"Baby" by Justin Beiber and Ludacris, with 470,993,226 views. That's double the population of Indonesia.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:54 AM on February 23, 2011
That's only if you discount music videos submitted under the VEVO label. With those included, the Charlie one (original video here) drops to fifth place, with the most-watched submission ever being...
*drumroll*
"Baby" by Justin Beiber and Ludacris, with 470,993,226 views. That's double the population of Indonesia.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:54 AM on February 23, 2011
Whoops, original Charlie video here. The one in the FPP is a repost; the original has 283 million+ hits.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:55 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Rhaomi at 3:55 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Heh. That's the most viewed ever, Rhaomi? I am amused how correct my guess was.
posted by jaduncan at 3:55 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by jaduncan at 3:55 AM on February 23, 2011
Yep -- you can view the most popular charts here, with filters at the top for sorting by various categories.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:56 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by Rhaomi at 3:56 AM on February 23, 2011
I'm scrambling to make "Charlie bit Justin Bieber's finger".
This is gonna be killer!
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:03 AM on February 23, 2011 [10 favorites]
This is gonna be killer!
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:03 AM on February 23, 2011 [10 favorites]
This person does not know how to make a graph. Also, some of the stuff on that page is nearly a decade out of date.
posted by ryanrs at 4:18 AM on February 23, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 4:18 AM on February 23, 2011 [11 favorites]
Over 1 trillion URLs -- if typed end to end, these web addresses would strech 51 million km, a third of the distance to the sun.
In what universe does that factoid even begin to make sense. DID YOU KNOW: if it was typed large enough, even 1 typed URL could reach all the way to the sun? That's an impressive factoid, right?
posted by piratebowling at 4:36 AM on February 23, 2011 [13 favorites]
In what universe does that factoid even begin to make sense. DID YOU KNOW: if it was typed large enough, even 1 typed URL could reach all the way to the sun? That's an impressive factoid, right?
posted by piratebowling at 4:36 AM on February 23, 2011 [13 favorites]
This is one of those spam infographics, isn't it? Not only is it a horrible "infographic", check out the top-level page - absolutely nothing there except this infographic. A while back, there was a rash of popular infographics that mysteriously emanating from one "online schools" website - all of them completely unrelated to schools or teaching. Turned out it was part of some sophisticated spam campaign designed to cash in on the high AdWords value for "online schools". I think this is part of the same thing.
posted by sleepcrime at 4:46 AM on February 23, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by sleepcrime at 4:46 AM on February 23, 2011 [11 favorites]
This is really, really bad. Zero fact checking and awful design and belies a complete misunderstanding of the company or technology in general.
"Google's original main search bar was powered by two Dual Pentium II Servers with 512 MB of RAM each, donated by Pentium."
SSIIIIIGHHHHH.
posted by kdar at 4:47 AM on February 23, 2011 [7 favorites]
"Google's original main search bar was powered by two Dual Pentium II Servers with 512 MB of RAM each, donated by Pentium."
SSIIIIIGHHHHH.
posted by kdar at 4:47 AM on February 23, 2011 [7 favorites]
There's a definite thing at the moment where these infographics are produced in the hope that blogs and websites will embed them - offering free content in exchange for a link, in effect. Carinsurance.org did it recently with charts of the Generation 1 Autobots and Decepticons - which were then lambasted for, among other things, inaccuracy and uncredited use of fan art.
Computerschool.org doesn't seem to have any content apart from these infographics, which means they are designed to be put on Digg, Reddit, Metafilter and other blogs, to impact Google's search rankings. Google must have seemed like a good bet for a subject - lots of people are interested in Google. Almost as many as are interested in Generation 1 Transformers, in fact.
posted by DNye at 4:53 AM on February 23, 2011
Computerschool.org doesn't seem to have any content apart from these infographics, which means they are designed to be put on Digg, Reddit, Metafilter and other blogs, to impact Google's search rankings. Google must have seemed like a good bet for a subject - lots of people are interested in Google. Almost as many as are interested in Generation 1 Transformers, in fact.
posted by DNye at 4:53 AM on February 23, 2011
I'm utterly bemused as to why everyone in Indonesia is watching Justin Bieber videos twice over.
posted by MuffinMan at 4:54 AM on February 23, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by MuffinMan at 4:54 AM on February 23, 2011 [7 favorites]
This person does not know how to make a graph.
No shit. That first graph (with the years running down the left side) is a blazing mess o' fail.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:59 AM on February 23, 2011 [7 favorites]
No shit. That first graph (with the years running down the left side) is a blazing mess o' fail.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:59 AM on February 23, 2011 [7 favorites]
People who object to Google-related infographics have no hope of winning Google's current prize for a cool infographic.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:59 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:59 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
The "Charlie" video was at the top of Rhaomi's link until I read the big box at the top of the page which said (not very clearly) "These results are filtered in a mysterious and arbitrary way based on your assumed location, Click Cancel to see the real results".
After clicking Cancel, Justin is restored to the top spot.
I have to assume that the infographic compiler didn't read the big box at the top of the page.
posted by doiheartwentyone at 5:01 AM on February 23, 2011
After clicking Cancel, Justin is restored to the top spot.
I have to assume that the infographic compiler didn't read the big box at the top of the page.
posted by doiheartwentyone at 5:01 AM on February 23, 2011
Out of date and badly sourced. The sources are all grouped together at the bottom, rather than next to the stat. Also, no date on the overall document.
E.g. 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube per minute (not 24)
(Plug - Digital Stats is one of my blogs, which I set up a couple of years ago because I got frustrated with the amount of badly sourced stats relating to digital media. I update it at least once a day, and it's currently getting about 150 visits a day)
posted by DanCall at 5:03 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
E.g. 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube per minute (not 24)
(Plug - Digital Stats is one of my blogs, which I set up a couple of years ago because I got frustrated with the amount of badly sourced stats relating to digital media. I update it at least once a day, and it's currently getting about 150 visits a day)
posted by DanCall at 5:03 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
Yeah, the information was pretty cool, but some of the visualizations were non-standard. As a result, trying to interpret year, page views and index time was laid out exactly the opposite of how my brain initially views charts (and in the Apocalypse my special skill to add to the reconstruction of humanity will be "I make charts"). I guess its good if you want to make people stare at the graph before they get it, thus remembering things. In my experience though, people think you are an idiot if you fail to convey two pieces of disjoint data on the same.
I am interested how they determine the length of a url, whether they consider javascript in the length, and what font they use to determine the distance - because surfing the web with 36 point impact is a vastly different (but awesome) experiment which would change the size of the monitor, and the distance across the solar system dramatically.
All in all cool concept, despite being out of date and filled with fail.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:08 AM on February 23, 2011
I am interested how they determine the length of a url, whether they consider javascript in the length, and what font they use to determine the distance - because surfing the web with 36 point impact is a vastly different (but awesome) experiment which would change the size of the monitor, and the distance across the solar system dramatically.
All in all cool concept, despite being out of date and filled with fail.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:08 AM on February 23, 2011
That had some of the most misleading and worst designed graphs I have ever seen. Horrible! really quite horrible. and a lot of the 'sound bites' were absurd and meaningless.
posted by mary8nne at 5:14 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by mary8nne at 5:14 AM on February 23, 2011
There's a weird mistake right at the top, where they describe the googolplex as one followed a billion billion zeros, and saying that the universe is too small to write that out. Surely it must have occurred to someone that this was unlikely? The surface of Earth alone is large enough to write a billion billion zeros five times over.
A googolplex is actually one followed by a googol zeros, which is different from "a billion billion" by, uh, more than a few orders of magnitude.
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 5:17 AM on February 23, 2011
A googolplex is actually one followed by a googol zeros, which is different from "a billion billion" by, uh, more than a few orders of magnitude.
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 5:17 AM on February 23, 2011
(I meant to add above that the "five times over" presumes each zero is one square centimetre.)
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 5:19 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by Clandestine Outlawry at 5:19 AM on February 23, 2011
Ok, but if Google were a dude, how many wives would he have?
posted by orme at 5:39 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by orme at 5:39 AM on February 23, 2011
Over 1 trillion unique web URLs would stretch a third the distance to the sun?
If you switch to Courier and fuck with the margins it'll look even longer.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:42 AM on February 23, 2011 [3 favorites]
If you switch to Courier and fuck with the margins it'll look even longer.
posted by nathancaswell at 5:42 AM on February 23, 2011 [3 favorites]
This is the most difficult to read infographic I've come across this week.
posted by lyam at 5:51 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by lyam at 5:51 AM on February 23, 2011
I calculate that the average URL must be a bit under 2 inches, depending on how much over 1 trillion "over 1 trillion" is.
Presumably, that will be the stupidest thing I do all day so, fine, that's out of the way.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:53 AM on February 23, 2011
Presumably, that will be the stupidest thing I do all day so, fine, that's out of the way.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:53 AM on February 23, 2011
"Baby" by Justin Beiber and Ludacris yt , with 470,993,226 views.
Never actually heard Bieber before, but it reminded me of something I had heard previously. I like this version better.
Something must be done to stop the spread of horrible infographics.
posted by grouse at 6:20 AM on February 23, 2011
Never actually heard Bieber before, but it reminded me of something I had heard previously. I like this version better.
Something must be done to stop the spread of horrible infographics.
posted by grouse at 6:20 AM on February 23, 2011
Yeah, misleading, confusing AND wrong. This does not only not increase understanding but actually takes it back a step.
The entire Google Index fits on 1.5 Million of the largest iPads?? What does that even mean? Does that also involve typing the Index end-to-end at 40 wpm on stacked postage stamps to reach 1/7th of the distance to the nearest satellite? Yeah ok...that makes sense to me now.
posted by vacapinta at 6:27 AM on February 23, 2011
The entire Google Index fits on 1.5 Million of the largest iPads?? What does that even mean? Does that also involve typing the Index end-to-end at 40 wpm on stacked postage stamps to reach 1/7th of the distance to the nearest satellite? Yeah ok...that makes sense to me now.
posted by vacapinta at 6:27 AM on February 23, 2011
Your small intestine, if extended to its full length, would reach partway to the moon AND BACK!
posted by kyrademon at 6:27 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by kyrademon at 6:27 AM on February 23, 2011
Those of us who use Chrome and feel strongly about this sort of linkbait can install the Chrome personal blocklist (extension), search for google infographic computerschool and block the site. This should provide some sort of signal to balance out the linkbait noise.
posted by kdar at 6:34 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by kdar at 6:34 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
If all the pages in Google were printed out on A4 paper, it would NOT carpet North America. We use letter size here by God. This is obviously a crap link.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:59 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by caution live frogs at 6:59 AM on February 23, 2011
"Google's original main search bar was powered by two Dual Pentium II Servers with 512 MB of RAM each, donated by Pentium."
I'm in love with the idea of a "search bar."
"Yeah one Rolling Rock and tell me everything about 18th century Turkish fashions. Thanks."
Perhaps the people from Pentium will build this in their mountain fortress deep in the silicone valley.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:07 AM on February 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
I'm in love with the idea of a "search bar."
"Yeah one Rolling Rock and tell me everything about 18th century Turkish fashions. Thanks."
Perhaps the people from Pentium will build this in their mountain fortress deep in the silicone valley.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:07 AM on February 23, 2011 [2 favorites]
Google allows dogs in on site, but not cats.
Man, fuck Google and their racism.
posted by grubi at 7:20 AM on February 23, 2011
Man, fuck Google and their racism.
posted by grubi at 7:20 AM on February 23, 2011
I think we can all agree this infographic sucks (the information is seriously confusingly laid out, the chart at the top makes little sense (who puts dates on the x axis?) and so on.
Since it's probably spam, lets delete it.
posted by delmoi at 7:52 AM on February 23, 2011
Since it's probably spam, lets delete it.
posted by delmoi at 7:52 AM on February 23, 2011
Google's cat/dog policy:
Dog, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "Hmmm. Interesting. I better stay away.
Cat, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "What? What's that? I am gonna get that! I just need to squeeze inside this box..."
Of course they could move the server, but after fifteen years of operations, the office is a mess of cables.
posted by Xoebe at 7:59 AM on February 23, 2011
Dog, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "Hmmm. Interesting. I better stay away.
Cat, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "What? What's that? I am gonna get that! I just need to squeeze inside this box..."
Of course they could move the server, but after fifteen years of operations, the office is a mess of cables.
posted by Xoebe at 7:59 AM on February 23, 2011
Dog, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "Hmmm. Interesting. I better stay away.
Cat, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "What? What's that? I am gonna get that! I just need to squeeze inside this box..."
More racism! "Dogs walk like THIS and cats walk like THIS..." Take that shit back to "ComicVue".
posted by grubi at 8:02 AM on February 23, 2011
Cat, upon hearing whirring noise from server: "What? What's that? I am gonna get that! I just need to squeeze inside this box..."
More racism! "Dogs walk like THIS and cats walk like THIS..." Take that shit back to "ComicVue".
posted by grubi at 8:02 AM on February 23, 2011
My dog would probably pee on the server rack, but he's short, so probably annoying rather than disastrous. Maybe that's why he can't swipe in to the server room.
posted by theora55 at 8:30 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by theora55 at 8:30 AM on February 23, 2011
"Google has a full T-Rex skeleton in its"... this is too neat, must verify; Googling it!
both because that makes me wish I worked there, and because I want to know if this is a)true, and b) a replica casting, or with actual bones (If they had numbered the references at the bottom and which parts they were backing up this would be easier [they also have a spaceshipOne replica, the T-Rex is outside, not a fossil]).
Ohhh, what a nice set of images! Some are a little skeptical of Googles commitment to not being evil, setting up dinosaur replicas in their spaces of business ought to go a loong way to relieving these worries.
(and I am way behind the times on this it seems, old news on the internet [is lego a commonly used material in building a storage system; wouldn't the plastic release smells if it got really hot?])
"Over 1 trillion unique URLs - if typed end to end, these web addresses would stretch 51 million km"... using 10 point Comic Sans.
posted by infinite intimation at 8:56 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
both because that makes me wish I worked there, and because I want to know if this is a)true, and b) a replica casting, or with actual bones (If they had numbered the references at the bottom and which parts they were backing up this would be easier [they also have a spaceshipOne replica, the T-Rex is outside, not a fossil]).
Ohhh, what a nice set of images! Some are a little skeptical of Googles commitment to not being evil, setting up dinosaur replicas in their spaces of business ought to go a loong way to relieving these worries.
(and I am way behind the times on this it seems, old news on the internet [is lego a commonly used material in building a storage system; wouldn't the plastic release smells if it got really hot?])
"Over 1 trillion unique URLs - if typed end to end, these web addresses would stretch 51 million km"... using 10 point Comic Sans.
posted by infinite intimation at 8:56 AM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]
I started to actually read the "points"... and, there's some really misleading/bizarre statements... but this is all I find I can reply to; Mixing Km, and Miles is HOW WE LOST A SPACE THINGY ON MARS; when you do this on an info-graphic - you not only maliciously injure cats, but you discriminate against dogs, while posting "continuously", on Twitter; for a century about it, on a six million km wide monitor, through the largest (64 gb) ipad. End to end.
posted by infinite intimation at 9:17 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by infinite intimation at 9:17 AM on February 23, 2011
The revenue per employee chart is completely, utterly wrong. It's wrong for all the companies. It gets both revenue wrong and employee count wrong.
posted by GuyZero at 9:31 AM on February 23, 2011
posted by GuyZero at 9:31 AM on February 23, 2011
Google allows dogs in on site, but not cats.
Man, fuck Google and their racism.
If you can keep your cat on a leash all day, you could probably bring your cat.
posted by GuyZero at 9:34 AM on February 23, 2011
Man, fuck Google and their racism.
If you can keep your cat on a leash all day, you could probably bring your cat.
posted by GuyZero at 9:34 AM on February 23, 2011
This is one of those spam infographics, isn't it? Not only is it a horrible "infographic", check out the top-level page - absolutely nothing there except this infographic. A while back, there was a rash of popular infographics that mysteriously emanating from one "online schools" website - all of them completely unrelated to schools or teaching. Turned out it was part of some sophisticated spam campaign designed to cash in on the high AdWords value for "online schools". I think this is part of the same thing.
Yeah look at the embed code at the bottom. It's the douchiest SEO tactic I've yet encountered. We really shouldn't be giving high quality links to these spammers.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:42 AM on February 23, 2011
Yeah look at the embed code at the bottom. It's the douchiest SEO tactic I've yet encountered. We really shouldn't be giving high quality links to these spammers.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 9:42 AM on February 23, 2011
If you can keep your cat on a leash all day, you could probably bring your cat.
Oh, I can. He's a good cat.
posted by grubi at 9:45 AM on February 23, 2011
Oh, I can. He's a good cat.
posted by grubi at 9:45 AM on February 23, 2011
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On a random search for 'bieber' (apparently you indeed cannot go broke underestimating people) I have found Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris with 471,131,976 views and counting.
posted by jaduncan at 3:53 AM on February 23, 2011 [2 favorites]