Observing April Fool’s Day has become a tradition for many web companies. Much like changing their logos on holidays, pulling a prank on their users on April 1st is becoming commonplace.
YouTube has a good one today. All of the featured videos on their home page today, when clicked, actually link to the music video for Rick Astley’s 1980’s classic Never Gonna Give You Up.
This phenomenon actually has a name. It’s called being “Rick Rolled.” I was “Rick Rolled” last week, when a friend sent me an email saying I needed to watch this video of Barack Obama making disparaging remarks about Hillary Clinton when he thought the cameras were off. “Hurry, before YouTube takes it down” was tacked on to the end of his message.
I obediently clicked the link to watch the video and was brought to the Never Gonna Give You Up video. Huh? I emailed my friend back saying that he had sent me the wrong link, to which he quickly responded “LOL. You’ve been Rick Rolled.”
Random, I know. But some of the best things in life, and online, are random. It’s fun to see YouTube itself is in on the joke today.
For a more in-depth explanation of the phenomenon, check out Urban Dictionary definitions of “Rick Rolled” here.
- Chad
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