Say Hello to the Google Social Search Emoji Bot

  • Kevin Maguire
How can we make Search more relevant in a social dominated mobile world?
For almost 20 years, people have been using Google to find whatever they need. But as desktop usage has decreased, and more time is spent in social apps, people are searching Google less often.
We unearthed a little known feature of Google - adding “nearby” onto a search would give you results based on your GPS location, and were more likely to drive repeat mobile searches. So rather than waiting for users to come to us, we went to them, with the Google Social Search Bot - helping you search Google, on Twitter, using emoji.
It drove 35,095 1:1 interactions, 269,187 Google searches, 44m earned media impressions and 1 in 6 users retweeted responses, driving 7.5 new users each.