Google was born in 1998 with the idea of being a search engine more powerful than the rest, but back then no one had any idea of the absolute giant it was going to become. In fact it was, just as you are imagining: a site where you type in what you want to search for and get to the web pages that offer it. No News, no Videos, no, of course… Images.
JLo, what a night
By February 2000, Google had become the most important search engine in the world. So much so, that a year later it would send Excite into bankruptcy and make the rest, such as AskJeeves, quickly become obsolete. But at that time, not everyone was on the Internet: those who were (when they were) were looking for very specific searches. For example, Jennifer Lopez’s dress at the Grammys.
It was Donatella Versace who personally dressed the singer at the 2000 Grammy gala on February 23, when she appeared in a green leaf dress that caught everyone’s attention. So much so, that the most searched on Google in its entire history was the dress in question. There was only one problem: to find it, people had to click on different links until they found the photo. It was time to give the public what they wanted.
And that’s no exaggeration: Cathy Edwards herself, who was product manager at the time, says it didn’t happen overnight, but Jennifer Lopez was definitely the reason Google Images was created. Even now, if you search for “Grammy 2000,” the first thing that comes up is her dress. There must be a reason.
Google Images was born in July 2001 through the collaboration of Huican Zhu, a recent graduate student, with Susan Wojcicki, head of product and now head of YouTube. “It really reflects how accessible and infinite information has changed the world,” the company says. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the fashion choice of Ben Affleck’s current partner. Genius and figure always.
