April 1 is a tough challenge for Google
There's a reason that a lot of people (including us, initially) fell for Google's prank, a beta Google Romance dating site: It made a lot of sense.
After all, Google has gotten into everything from maps and video to finance and shopping. And, as The Motley Fool argues, we may still see Google launch a real dating site "in three years or less."
The fact is that, given the vast expansion from its original search roots, it's become increasingly difficult to imagine a business too absurd for Google to contemplate. So it may be impossible for the company to pull a prank that everyone will assume is a joke.
Blog community response:
"Sorry, lonelyhearts, this is just an April Fool's joke. Although I don't see why they wouldn't implement such a service. The first line of the joke is empirically true; finding true love really is mostly a search problem."
--The Argument Clinic
"Unless Google can find a way to utilize AdWords so that they can offer a free service, it makes no sense to spend the time and money entering a market where the existing revenue model (paid subscriptions) is seeing a slowdown."
--Marketing Pilgrim
"What would be next? Nuclear Armament? I don't know, we'll have to wait to find out."
--The Day Dreamer