Google has a new Search by Image function and, if you haven’t used it yet, you’ve got to give it a try. If you haven’t heard about it yet, I’ll let this soothing, disembodied female voice explain it for me:
Get it? Okay, now that you’ve been given a crash course, let’s have some fun with Wpromote’s executive head shots. Below, I’ve matched up the Wpromoter with the first result in Google’s search by image. Let’s start with the big dog, Michael Mothner, Wpromote’s CEO:
It appears that Mothner has more in common with former Turkish National Soccer Team goalkeeper, Rüştü Reçber, than just his tenacious will to win. According to Google Search by Image, they share dashing good looks as well!
No, you’re not seeing double. On the left is our Controller, Ali Quinn-Angel, and on the left is renowned Romanian professor of history, Dr. Gelu Neamţu. They actually are not related in any way but, according to Google Search by Image, they’re practically twinsies!
Our Director of Marketing, Jamie Lane, is right at home putting together decks for potential clients, organizing the sales team for conferences and getting the word out about Wpromote’s services. In Google’s opinion, she might also find herself at home on the high seas as Captain of the infamous Black Pearl. By the way, Google, if you’re wondering, telling a woman that she looks like a hand-drawn Chinese poster for one of the Pirates movies is not as big of a compliment as you might think.
Okay, fair’s fair. I ran myself through Google Search by Image and Google determined that an accurate description of my head shot was “dinosaur cartoons.” Now, although that’s awesome, it influences the way that Google runs the search (the same thing happens with Michael Stone’s head shot). Because of this, Google matched me to a Yahoo Answers avatar that popped up on a question about the 1990s show Dinosaurs, which, evidently was not a cartoon. Either way, Google thinks I’m visually similar to a feminine, elfen creature about a tenth my own size… and I’m not sure how I feel about that!
So, if you use Chrome, try downloading the Google Search by Image extension. It’s a lot of fun and, over time, it’s likely to get a lot better. As you can see from the results above, there is still some work to be done before the tool is perfected. Until then, if you find out that Google thinks that someone you care about looks like anything other than an A-list celebrity (of the same gender!), you might be better off keeping it to yourself!
