The Eiffel Tower is 330 meters high and the nearest pizzeria is 2.1 km from my house. These facts were surprisingly straightforward to establish. All I had to do was type a few words into Google and I didn’t even have to spell them correctly.
For most of human history, people obtained information in other ways. They went to the library, asked the priest or wandered the streets smelling pepperoni. But then, for a brief period when search engines existed but were too pricey to utilize on a shiny recent phone, people could call or text strangers and ask them anything.
The Internet became available on cell phones in 1996, but before affordable data plans became available, accidentally clicking the browser icon on a flip phone would make you sweat. In the early 21st century, access to one website could Cost so did a cheeseburger, so few people bothered to Google while on the go.
Instead, many services have emerged offering mobile search without the Internet. From 2007 to 2010, Americans could call GOOG-411 to find local businesses, and from 2006 to 2016, Americans could text 242-242 to get any question answered by ChaCha. For similar services, Britons can call 118 118 or text AQA on 63336. There were no artificially smart robots behind the scenes answering these questions. Instead, it used to employ thousands of people To be Google.
“Some guy called and asked if Guinness was produced in Ireland, people were asking about the circumference of the world,” says Hayley Banfield, a 42-year-old from Wales who answered calls to 118 118 between 2004 and 2005. The number was first launched in 2002 year as a telephone information service – which meant that people could call to obtain telephone numbers and addresses (then Cost average 55p). In 2008, the company began offering answers everyone questions. Even though Banfield worked at 118 118 before this change, customers still asked her about everything. “We had random things like, ‘How many yellow cars are there on the road?’”
Although hotlines still exist, Banfield worked during their boom period — fielding hundreds of calls on shifts from 5:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. — and quickly noticed patterns in customer inquiries. “That’s when drunk people called after 11 p.m.,” he says. People wanted taxis and kebab shops, but they were so drunk they forgot to finish their sentences. Sometimes callers found Banfield so helpful that they invited her to accompany them on nights out. As the evening progressed, callers inquired about massage rooms or saunas, then called back irritated when Banfield recommended a facility that didn’t. meet their needs.
“Pizza hours” lasted from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. – everyone wanted to have a number to order a local takeaway pizza. Banfield was faced with a computer in a Cardiff call center equipped with a elementary database. She would enter the postcode (she had memorized all UK codes as part of her training) and then utilize an abbreviation such as “PIZ” for pizza or “TAX” for a taxi. People sometimes accused Banfield of being psychic, but if the power went out in an area, she automatically knew that most callers wanted to know why.