Topeka 'renames' itself 'Google, Kansas'
By John D. Sutte
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/02/google.kansas.topeka/index.html
Summary: Bill Buten has renamed Topeka, Google for a month. He believes very firmly they residents of Topeka will benefit from faster Internet connections. He is trying to catch Google’s attention to improve their Internet speed. “The mayor believes that faster Internet connections would inspire young people to stay in the city and would encourage business development." Buten is not making the switch permanent, he is just trying to help his city of Google. Buten is not the fist to switch Topeka’s name, Topeka was called ToPikachu because of Pokemon’s popularity. Buten is also trying to bring Google/Topeka out of the dark, he says it is a town with a bar and music scene. Also, Mr. Buten is attempting to make his town more attractive to youngsters. Google, Kansas.
Related to class: With the roaring 20’s our class learned about growing technology. We know this is still happening because of the 20’s. Technology is plays a big role in our lives; you know it's true when you drive past Google, Kansas on your cell phone with your ipod blasting through your high tech speakers.
Questions:
1) Do you think the Buten was just trying to get Topeka into the news?
2) What do you think the residents of Topeka think?
3) How you react if Wilmette was renamed to a name of a company or brand.
Answers:
1) I think that Buten had good intentions. He sounded as if he really wanted the younger citizens of Topeka to be happy with faster Internet connections. However, I do think that some of the name change happened for publicity because I am pretty sure you can get faster Internet without changing the name of your city.
2) I think that the residents of Topeka or Google are going to be pretty happy with the change. After all, it puts the city of Topeka on the map. It gives a reason for them to be proud citizens and to boast to all of their friends, “Well, my internet is faster, I live in Google.” It's a great topic to bring up at the dinner table.
3) I would be kind of excited if Wilmette changed its name for a month. Well, it depends on the brand because I would not be to thrilled if it was McDonalds or something, but Starbucks would work. It would be a nice new conversation starter and it would be fun to change things up a bit. Perhaps we could change it to Thrillmette; I mean, there is a good amount of excitement here in the burbs'.
Molly Klare
Comments (5)
Tierney B said
at 6:09 pm on Mar 4, 2010
I think that Buten was trying to get Topeka in the news, but in doing that, he could further help bring the popularity of topeka up in addition to changing the towns name. Also, I don't think that changing there name of the city would help them get faster internet connection, so i think that he was partly trying to get it in the news to broadcast his ideas, and "bring Google/Topeka out of the dark."
I think the residents of Topeka think that their town will improve and benefit from this change. They will be more renowned now, and they can brag about living in a city called Google, and have super fast internet.
It would probably depend on the company, but if it was cool like Google, i would be excited to live in a town, and excited to tell people that i live in ex. "Yahoo" or something like that!
Lauren S said
at 9:16 pm on Mar 4, 2010
1. I think that at first Buten thought he had good intentions but now it looks like he was trying to get in the news. There aren't a lot of things that happen in Kansas and so I think he wanted to get Topeka a bit more popular.
2. I think that the residents in Topeka think that their town is now more well known and more people could come there. Also, I think that they are happy because they are named after Google and will have really fast internet.
3. I would probably not be that excited. It would be only for a month which wouldn't be that bad but if they like the name, then it could be changed forever. Also, I think it would be weird to say that, "I live in Google," because it seems odd and you are living in a small town that has a big name.
Zalman G said
at 2:48 pm on Mar 5, 2010
1. It's very possible that the mayor was just trying to get his town media attention. It's also possible he genuinely helped his town. I also think Google payed what is formerly Topeka a substantial amount of money to change their town's name to get themselves media attention. It's probably a little of everything.
2. They will think it will be cool to live in a town named Google. They will also be appreciate the substantially higher bandwidth they will be getting.
3. It would really depend on what company Wilmette was named after. If it was a company like Microsoft, needless to say I wouldn't be very happy about it. If it was Apple in particular, needless to say, I would be very happy about it. I wouldn't care if it was a company such as SMART (the Smart Board Company) I wouldn't care one way or another.
Maddie B said
at 4:02 pm on Mar 8, 2010
1. I think that the mayor just wanted to give his town more publicity. Most people know of cities like New york city or Chicago but many are not familiar with Topeka. Or now known as "google". I understand why the mayor would want his city well known.
2. I think the residents are probably very shocked that the mayor would do something as outgoing as it is. They were probably not ready for such a big change.
3. If Wilmette was renamed I would be very excited because our town is a little boring. It is a great town though so i should be known.
Jack A said
at 5:01 pm on Mar 8, 2010
1. I think the mayor was trying to get the towns name out in the news. He just wanted to be more nation widely known.
2. I think most of them wouldn't really care except if they think this was a change that will only do good things for the city.
3. If Wilmette was renamed, I would be sort of upset because the name makes it so many nicknames can be fused with it (example; Chill-mette).
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