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Johannesburg - Search giant Google’s attempt to prank Gmail users with a ‘mic drop’ emailing sending option has backfired on Friday with tales of disappointment and despair.
April Fools' day this year prompted Google to introduce a ‘drop the mic’ option within its email service Gmail, which is used by more than 1 billion people.
Google on Friday switched on the email sending option which would send a GIF animation of a yellow minion cartoon character dropping a microphone. The ‘Send + Mic Drop’ button was placed next to the standard email sending option.
The search giant, in a tongue-in-cheek blog post, also explained the mic drop button.
“Email's great, but sometimes you just wanna hit the eject button. Like those heated threads at work, when everyone's wrong except you (obviously). Or those times when someone's seeking group approval, but your opinion is the only one that matters (amirite?). Or maybe you just nailed it, and there's nothing more to say (bam),” wrote the company in a blog post.
“Today, Gmail is making it easier to have the last word on any email with Mic Drop. Simply reply to any email using the new 'Send + Mic Drop' button. Everyone will get your message, but that's the last you'll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won't see it,” said the company.
But the April Fools' joke ended up being badly received, with disaffected users complaining in Google’s product forums.
One of those users Allan Pashby said he lost his job because of the April Fools' joke.
“Thanks to Mic Drop I just lost my job. I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her,” wrote Pashby.
“I inadvertently sent the email using the ‘Mic Drop’ send button.There were corrections that needed to be made on my articles and I never received her replies. My boss took offense to the Mic Drop animation and assumed that I didn't reply to her because I thought her input was petty (hence the Mic Drop). I just woke up to a very angry voicemail from her which is how I found out about this ‘hilarious’ prank,” wrote Pashby.
Complaints about the drop the mic feature also swirled on social media and Google was ultimately forced to pull the feature.
“Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year,” Google wrote in a blog post later on Friday.
“Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page,” said the company.
Were you caught out badly by Google’s ‘drop the mic’ prank? Tell us by clicking here.
