Apparently, throughout the entire Blogosphere, people were writing prank posts and it definitely was great for publicity. I’m not going to lie, there was some buzz created throughout the Blogosphere that really caught my attention thinking if it was real or not. Then there were also those that just wasn’t realistic at all. But with these great publicity stunts, does it and can it work against you?
Of course. Luckily, a lot of people have a good sense of humor.
I think most of the comments I’ve read on peoples April 1st post, they automatically assumed it was a prank. And yes, these prank posts have gathered a lot of publicity – and any publicity is good publicity… Right? Maybe? Hopefully? Of course!
That may be true to a certain extent, but some of these stunts may turn a reader off and you can potentially lose more than you think. Of course, it depends how serious it was. But if you look around the blogosphere, there were different variations of jokes that people pulled. And with those jokes, you have to remember that you might need to prepare for the consequences and repercussions.
Wait, what? Consequences and repercussions? Yup!
Not everybody will have the same sense of humor as you and there will be tons of people that will probably be offended. Matter of fact, I’ve read that a lot of people were threatening to unsubscribe to RSS Feeds, never come back to peoples sites and so on. And I’m sure a lot of people did.
On the other hand, some bloggers actually had their RSS Feeds increase. Drastically. Rather than naming names, you’re just going to have to take my word for it. 
But unfortunately, I wasn’t one of those people!
On my April 1st post, I did not post a practical joke (even though I’m probably one of the goofiest people you’ll meet!), but rather I posted a hypothetical situation from Jason of theuniversitykid.com and his April Fool’s post. I got an uproar of people disagreeing with his prank of selling a permanent ad on his blog for $1,000… but I think I sent him some good traffic! I just hope he doesn’t steal my readers away!
So, look around the Blogosphere and just look at peoples April Fool’s post and I can guarantee you that those posts built such controversy, such commotion, such… great publicity that it was hard to overlook!
I guess it’s a live and learn process and now I’ll have to wait a whole year to pull my prank of publicity.
I just hope I don’t need to rely on a prank/publicity stunt to continue to build on my readership!
But what did you guys think of the Blogosphere’s April Fool’s?
Hello,
I like the idea of getting traffic through outright lies (the $1,000 ad, or is it real???).
I didn’t realise it was April Fools’ Day, on the day, and posted a story about an interesting gambling system on a forum. People immediately started shouting April Fool even though it was supposed to be a serious post! Oh well. I’ll have to be more aware in the future.
Good Luck!
Jon.
Jon C’s last blog post..The Apprentice Candidate Names
Even april fools are widely spread in forums. To me it’s not big deal, anyway it is such a joke rite? Nevertheless, one has to think of the consequences…not everyone has a sense of humour
Haney’s last blog post..Type Of Bread To Look Out For
sorry for the typo
*no big deal
*just a joke
Sorry Jay, my eyes were half closed
Haney’s last blog post..Type Of Bread To Look Out For
i dig it, even though i was suckered myself. one that particularly stood out was the rickroll on steroids. this flipping thing took over my browser, making it jump around my screen. i thought i’d come across a virus or something.
Hey Jay, I thought it was a good post on April 1. The question is a worthy one. I thought Google’s Gmail Feature was perhaps the best joke out there. It wasn’t fair that they’re help page was dated March 31, 2008 though.
PublicRecordsGuy’s last blog post..World Wide Web RoundUp | April 2, 2008
Great post on April fools ay” I guess you could use it as means of generating traffic to your blog
Aaron Rivera’s last blog post..Get the hottest wholesale discounts on Vegas vacations and cheap travel packages today!
I actually wrote a post displaying all of the “A list” top notch bloggers who posted their aprils fool’s joke 1 day early..
Quite amusing when you look for stuff like that.
The links here:
http://bradblogging.com/featured/april-fools-jokes-throughout-the-internet/
Cya
Brad
BradBlogging.com - Increase Website Traffic With Easy To Follow Steps’s last blog post..Introduction To Advertising - Table of Contents
Jon - Lol it happens man. I think I read that some people didn’t bother posting their March income or whatever because they thought no one would take it seriously.
Hani - Exactly what I was thinking. And don’t worry about the typos, not a big deal. Lol… go to sleep! lol
Jansie - LOL! I was wondering what that was but I didn’t bother clicking on it. And good thing I didn’t! lol!
PublicRecordsguy - Yeah, I decided not to go with a prank because I already saw TONS of them lol. But I’m sure Jason (TUK) didn’t mind if I added to his…
Aaron - Well, it looks like a lot of bloggers got some added attention that they don’t even need! Spread the wealth man! lol
Brad - I’ll have to check that out… btw, your comment was in my spam filter…
Jay
Using the holidays to your advantage when blogging is a must
KG Lew’s last blog post..Issue 40 : Getting Traffic from Forums!