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Stephen Colbert Declares War on Google

measurement.com — In the q&a before the April 11th taping of The Colbert Report the discussion of Google bombing came up and Colbert told the audience he would like to be known as the "greatest living American" and asked everyone in the audience to link to him using that text. Will he be able to shakeup Google like he did with the Wikipedia?

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  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -40/+6Bet he'll bring up that python who got loose in Google's NY office.
    • MSTK, on 10/12/2007, -42/+7hey this is cool guys i hope he does well. btw check out this site in my sig.

      http://www.colbertnation.com
    • Agret, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33@MSTK
      What do you mean "the site in my sig", there are no sigs on digg....
    • krets, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4He's already on the first page of results.
    • MuteMathSSR, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Take off every sig!
    • ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -28/+3Buried as flucking lame. Digg morons can't find a talented comedian and keep brown nosing the pencil necked idiot Colbert.

      It seems that from these morons will soon digg like this
      http://digg.com/celebrity/Stephen_Colbert_Takes_A_Dump_And_Eats_It_Lolololol
    • ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -16/+9What? Isn't it true that for any crap that Colbert does, there is a legion of single-digit-IQ fans that will post/digg an article as if he did anything really new?
      How many times did he try to revive this dead joke so far?

      "ZOMG! Stephen Colbert farted today! LOLOLOOLOLOL1110111" click! (fan pressing the sticky button on his mouse button on Digg and wipes the drool from the mouth)
  • enzorX, on 10/12/2007, -54/+19I hope "bed wetting" websites come up when you type Stephen Colbert.
    • Xageroth, on 10/12/2007, -35/+17... because he's every All-American Girl (tm)'s wet dream?
    • tehjarvis, on 10/12/2007, -15/+12I don't know why you're getting dug down, I laughed.
    • 34tnu5x199, on 10/12/2007, -23/+6Colbert is a hack.. he stole Kaufmanns act.
  • ROIGuy, on 10/12/2007, -19/+12He certainly gets my vote for Giant Brass Balls!
    • ramiro, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5He doesn't have any balls. He merely did what anyone can do in a free, democratic, civilized country.

      He would really speak truth to power if he went, say, to Iran and made fun of Ahmadinejad. That would be ballsy.
  • diggsuze, on 10/12/2007, -14/+69Great American or "The Greatest" American? No doubt about it — Colbert is the Greatest Living American! The brass balls are the least of it...
    • Influsion, on 10/12/2007, -14/+6Great American or Greatest American? Both. He is the #1 and #2 greatest Americans. Sadly, Google modified their search algorithms to disarm google bombs. So much for the free-market.
    • LiveFastDieOld, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10This isn't necessarily a Googlebomb. It's not as if Google no longer pays attention to what words people use in their links; it's still a huge part of the algorithm.

      If everyone links to Colbert as the greatest living American AND Colbert's site itself talks about him being the greatest living American, it won't be long before he's at the top. It won't even be that tough; the top hit for 'greatest living american' right now (at least, as of this moment, from this location) doesn't even use that specific phrase.
  • northjersey78, on 10/12/2007, -6/+31That new ice cream flavor named after looks pretty tasty.
    • wipis, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Just had some. Great! Even better with a little banana.
    • Insignian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I can't find it anywhere
    • diggn_it, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5yeah totally. Ice cream is not complete without bananas in my opinion.
    • slicedoranges, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1Named after who? Idiot.
    • PyroRaver, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@Insignian

      You sure? You should check out any near 7 Elevens and Ralph's/RiteAid/Jones, they're starting to pop up all over the place. Good luck on finding it, it's really good!
    • mlindemu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I found it at a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. Its not a Super Wal-Mart nor a regular Wal-Mart but a Wal-Mart "neighborhood market" (everything's written in green instead of blue and its more focused on groceries). I got the tip from a Ben and Jerry's employee who seemed almost too enthusiastic about his job... BTW, it is worth the search if you have some time. Mmmmm, chocolate covered waffle cone.
    • mjsteinbaugh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I've only been able to find the pints at Ben & Jerry's scoop shops.
    • Peanutman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Ben & Jerry's website will tell you where a specific flavor is sold after you enter your zip code.
  • rampur, on 10/12/2007, -17/+4Why does he hate the internet!?
  • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -15/+7Meh, Colbert's wikipedia vandalism gets reverted and locked within minutes. Wikipedia deals with worse every day.
    • darkslide29, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22let's not forget the bridge in Hungary that was voted to be in his name.
    • crashflow, on 10/12/2007, -15/+4actually that's what so great about his "stunts". He acts like a guy who believes that wikipedia can be vandalized anytime by any average joe. Yet somehow his stunt fails, because wikipedia's self-policing works. Not a 100% 24/7, but then again nothing does.
    • ajgv, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8it can be... i added some of my friends to my highschool's entry under the notable alumni section. still there 6 months later.
    • AladinSane, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16The reason your vandalism of your high school alumni list hasn't been corrected is that nobody cares. It's such a vague, narrow entry that it'd be pointless to try and "correct" it. You, however, need a girlfriend.
    • pingveno, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5There's a real time IRC feed of all of the changes that are made to Wikipedia, so usually vandalism, even to obscure articles, gets caught. However, obviously not everything does.
    • gameforge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@aladinsane
      You just proved the point. Wikipedia's policing doesn't work. It works on popular stuff and obvious stuff, or both (i.e. talk show hosts announcing their wiki vandalism plans on cable TV, adding the White House Press Secretary's name under the entry for "Douche", etc.).

      As for the live IRC feed, how many people do they have fixed on that 24/7? Do they watch it in every language or just English? And honestly, short of seeing a swear word, or a ten page article turn into a one line "gotcha", or some massive flood of traffic, I really don't know how they'd notice. Unless they're an expert on everything and know whenever they're witnessing intentional misinformation... in which case, why don't they just write all the articles?
  • ryanmm, on 10/12/2007, -6/+42Colbert's greatness comes from the fact that he knows his fanbase is tech savvy and he uses it to his advantage...what a legend
    • krebcycle, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7If Colbert is great it is only marginally related to his ability to get nerds to wump internets.
    • timbob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1no, colbert's a doush and all his fans have nothing better to do than ***** with the internet, god forbid anyone use the internets for something useful. If steven colbert said one original thing i would die of shock. Commedy Central already amalgamates his best clips on their website, and therefor, his clips and stupid publicity/ product placement schemes have no place on digg. dugg down, same goes for family guy.
  • CatalystDM, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18"Will he be able to shakeup Google like he did with the Wikipedia?"
    Maybe if he mentions it on the actual show, but he won't shake things up just by asking the studio audience to do something.
  • Khalam, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1dead already.
  • crashflow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=greatest+living+American&btnG=Search

    No sign of him yet.
    • ajgv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13throw some quotes around that and hes #4
    • jayswain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It will be totally ***** awesome if he ranks #1 for greatest living american, all he needs is a link from CC and some title tag's and he's golden.
    • Salviati, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Judging by the current results for "Greatest Living American" in Google, it won't take long for him to reach the top. It may take a few days before Google's crawler picks up on the new trend, though.
    • ubunturd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5He'll be #1 by the end of this week. Colbert is adored by 18-35 year-olds.
    • gameforge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I can't help but think that Google might notice it before their spider does. What I think will happen:

      1) Google plays nice and simply lowers the rank associating his name with "greatest living american" for relevant searches
      2) Google gets ***** and ensures that his name is nowhere to be found given the keywords "greatest", "living", or "american"
      3) It's Google's new Celebrity AdSense (Beta) and he is trading sponsors for Google plugs on his show or possibly hard cash, and Google will cooperate with the schedule that the show's writers have put together for how and when the terms get indexed, eventually reverting to the normal indexing when the bit is over

      It should be pretty obvious in the next week or two what their reaction is/will be. I *really* doubt that they're going to sit back and do absolutely nothing while some TV personality demonstrates his ability to manipulate their product. Google's goal is to organize the world's information, and categorizing Stephen Colbert as the greatest living American via himself is probably not what they had in mind. Maybe if they are already fans and like the free publicity, and no important shareholders/customers start having a cow.

      I find it quite interesting that a private party used GoDaddy to register the domain greatestlivingamerican.com six months ago (almost to the day), and if you go there now ( http://www.greatestlivingamerican.com/ ) you get a broken image embedded in some bad HTML code, which seems to be trying to redirect to a GoDaddy ad... seems interesting that it's just sittin' there, broken... anyway, it's #2 in a quoted Google search for "greatest living american", with the first reference to Colbert @ #4, at least on my Google - that entry @ #4 is #1 on Google News, so that might disappear in a few days. But #2 is pretty good for a blank page with no text whatsoever on it - I assume that domain names have a lot of precedence in the form of keywords in Google's spider (particularly with an exact phrase like that), so that could be tough to beat. Or, perhaps that page just recently changed?

      If he were REAL clever, he'd buy the domain and make it his blog.
    • cmearns, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1He is now # 3 and # 5 of that same search. Man this moves fast.

      Try "who is the greatest living american" (no quotes). Hes already #1!
  • kahlessreborn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Digg Killed Colbert. YOU BASTARDS!
  • killerofkiller, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8http://www.google.com/search?q=greatest+living+American&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
    number 8 down names colbert
  • natmaster, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Sorry, he didn't shake up wikipedia - his attempts actually reinforced wikipedia's credibility.
    • Downwritemad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Stephen stands for all things credible. He just wanted to make sure they maintain their constant struggle for Truthiness.
  • harvinator24, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Colberts site got dugg and is now down. Guess our boy stephen can hold up to the digg army.
  • V3X3D, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Story appears on digg.com and someone registered the same day a domain with those three keywords (http://whois.domaintools.com/greatestlivingamerican.com) .Stephen Colbert got a problem now ?
    • gameforge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@v3x3d
      > ...someone registered the same day...

      $ whois greatestlivingamerican.com
      ...
      Updated Date: 17-nov-2006
      Creation Date: 17-nov-2006
      Expiration Date: 17-nov-2007
      ...

      It was created about six months ago. It hasn't been updated since. That domaintools page you listed says so as well.
  • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27I work for Google. I can vouch... we all already think he's the greatest living American. :)
    • ptFoe, on 10/12/2007, -12/+2in your dreams you are unemployed and living in your parent's basement.
    • psxman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10*That*'s what people at Google dream about? Being unemployed and living in their parent's basement?
    • penumbra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7*rofl* Best... stupid... case... of... mispunctuation... ever.

      Worst... use... of... superfluous... ellipses... ever... maybe.
    • EvilGnome, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Then you of all people must do your part to help him achieve his goal
    • timbob, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1cmon google, i used to think u were cool
  • objectnull, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Colbert is amazing.

    Spread the bomb.
  • vdavpwns, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0colbert and his fan base are capable of this and now that it's on digg, it can probably happen without even being aired on the show. power to the people =P
  • orph3us, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4Ya know, I don't know what the general consensus is out there about Steven Colbert, but ever since he left the Daily Show, he has gotten pompous, arrogant, and a bit annoying. His never being able to level with his interviewees and berating of them is supposed to be his shtick, but when he gets red in the face and can't accept criticism as I've seen many times you can tell that show has gotten to his head. The lead ins from the Daily Show are unfunny and it seems to me that he shows contempt for Jonathon Stewart at the Daily Show like saying neener neener I have my own show now and its better than yours.. but its not.... anyway, Steven Colbert has had his head inflated a bit toomuch and I think he needs to settle down a bit :P... Still, he does have my respect for the speech he gave in front of the President and staff. Legendary... as for the show, let yourself be criticized, don't put on such a front. This Google thing isn't horrible though :P and I don't think it undermines Google in anyway... Advertisers have been doing it for a long time now... It's just another opportunity for Google to create better algorithms and filter this stuff out
    • jimic79, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4That would make him a good actor, wouldn't it? In his interviews he clearly states that Colbert is a "character" (he pronounces it Coal-Bear when he talks about said "character") He also acts as a staunch republican when all signs point to his being quite the opposite... Don't get all fired up. Just be happy that the people that watch the daily show and the colbert report (myself included) are getting some up-to-date news.... It is a rather credible, albeit lefty-biased news source...
    • spookyttws, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9You seem to be missing the entire point of the character he portrays. Yes, he does break character, but that makes it all the better. And this 'contempt' for Jon Stewart (and his full name is actually spelled Jonathan) you speak of...well I'll just leave it at this: Stewart is the Executive Producer of the Colbert Report.
    • inhaler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I think you're lost on the disambiguation of Stephen Colbert the actor, and the character.

      You guys above just beat me to it!
  • Arizona_Glover, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5http://paulsbaker.blogspot.com/2007/04/greatest-living-american.html
  • mellenger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Stephen Colbert is the greatest living American
  • uberlord, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'm a little underwhelmed with the results. I searched for, "Greatest Living American" and got nothing yet... Obviously it needs time I suppose.

    But for god's sake, PLAYBOY came before ColbertNation! Playboy is a better American than Colbert!? COME ON people, start linking!!!!
  • pingveno, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7"Colbert’s suggestions to change Wikipedia listings have driven Wikipedia editors to the edge of a nervous breakdown."

    Wikipedia's editors didn't get even close to a "nervous breakdown." There were already procedures in place to take care of mass vandalism, all that had to happen was for an admin watching the show to realize what would happen and lock the page. That, of course, is exactly what happened.
    • MiDri, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2me's thinks they don't miss an episode now, lol.
    • WileEPeyote, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, so now their "mostly" correct "facts" are safe...
  • Rammsteined, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Who, why, and what the hell?
  • saganite, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'll put you down for great.
  • iblaine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Google bombs no longer work like they used to...
    http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/01/quick-word-about-googlebombs.html

    Go ahead and try...MSN & Yahoo may pick up the links but I doubt Google will budge much.
  • tawker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Just a reminder, Wikipedia links don't count for dip in PageRank anymore..... so don't bother screwing up Wikipedia (blocked enough people lately)
  • 2legit2kwit, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Steven Colbert is exactly what Andy Kauffman tried to be in the seventies. He is one big practical joke on the American media and The American people, i just love it!
    • WileEPeyote, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I was just thinking yesterday about all the mayhem someone like Any Kaufman could come up with in this day and age. This would be a mild stunt compared to some of the stuff I imagine him doing. We miss you Andy, please come back...
  • ROIGuy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Google bombs are partially diffused, but give this story a few days and it will definitely rank Stephen Colbert number 1 for both Greatest Living American and Giant Brass Balls. Check in 5 to 7 days!

    It might help to have a couple of matching words on the site.

    Google is very unlikely to manually change results or penalize the Colbert Report both because the result doesn't hurt anyone else and because most Googlers appear to have a sense of humor. In fact, the only know instance of that is for was a search for "french military victories", that was removed some time ago.

  • neplusultra, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Won't someone think of the historical record?

    I mean, I think Stephen Colbert is a pretty cool guy. Really. He's an awesome comedian. He's great all around in my book.

    But when alien races visit the wreckage of our poisoned planet decades in the future, and piece together our history and culture by reverse engineering the digital records from the shattered husks of internet servers, isn't ANYONE concerned that they'll be lead to, if not outright incorrect, then at least highly manipulated conclusions by all this Google bombing?

    I mean, miserable failure and G.W.B is just a LITTLE stretch of the truth, and this thing with Colbert, the greatest LIVING American, it's just.....

    um.....

    ah the hell with it. bomb away.
  • nga911, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3how the ***** is he , i mean no body knows this guy out side the US
  • cassiopia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Another guy is running a contest giving away software if you can get a page linking to him to be ahead of Colbert... I for one Choose Free Stuff over Fame.

    http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Greatest_Living_American
  • jryder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Although I'm sure his Google-bombing campaign will prove successful, it's interesting to note as a recent event that Kurt Vonnegut is third on the "list". I'm sure Colbert would understand placing underneath someone as influential as Vonnegut.
  • bremstrong, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Stephen Colbert, greatest living American? I wonder if anyone has made a list other people might qualify.

    I'm having trouble thinking any good of candidates, anyone here have any suggestions besides Steve Jobs?
  • PyroRaver, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I would just like to say, that I would also put Jon Stewart in the same category. Don't ask me to say who's better, I think they both rock and I watch both every night!.
  • kevinosborne, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1http://www.colbertnation.com Greatest Living American
  • Scratchula, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Greatest American Asshat.
  • LIQUIDMASS, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Colbert is the cats meow.
  • LIQUIDMASS, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2How is Steve Jobs the greatest living American? HE did not make the first computer.. he sells overpriced shiny products to idiots,... including myself.
  • SirBotchness, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Colbert speaks, and things happen, its insane.
  • banderbe, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Stephen Colbert!!! Stephen Colbert!!! Stephen Colbert!!!

    Stephen Colbert sucks.
  • srusso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I hope Google just removes the search of his name.... Then we can see who would "win the war"
  • TheGeneral, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Doesn't Sanjaya already have this distinction?
  • jukeboxbrando, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0when i google "Greatest Living American" Colbert is the top result. Yay!
  • Judacious, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Stephen Colbert is the greatest living American
  • mdfrancois, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He's on the first page of the results now, as of 8:46PST on April 17, 2007 ...
  • ajent420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't care what you do Colbert, just keep the Americone Dream coming!
  • rallykiller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Ugh, Colbert seriously needs to pull his head out of his ass. He's overly annoying, he's loud, and so the masses follow him. He's really no better than all the things he laughs at and makes fun of... although his show IS funny.
  • timbob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the steven colbert report is where well-heeled trustafarians learn where they stand on things.
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