Software giant Google, known for commemorative “Google Doodles” that pay tribute to special dates and holidays, added a candle of solidarity on their front page after the elementary school shooting that rocked Newton, Connecticut.
The glowing candle doodle states, when you hover your cursor over the candle: “Our hearts are with the families and community of Newtown, Connecticut.”
According to Google search trends, on Friday, Dec. 14, more than 5 million people searched the name “Ryan Lanza” the person incorrectly identified as the suspected shooter. The second most popular search was for the new network CNN, with more than 1 million search requests.
It appears, after searching the official Google doodle blog, that this is first time Google has used a breaking news doodle in this manner.
It seems there has never been a doodle for any other national or international tragedies, such as the Virginia Tech massacre, September 11 attacks, Columbine school shootings, or the Norway day camp massacre. The Google doodle began 12 years ago, and each year the number of creations has increased.
On Wednesday the technology blog Mashable posted an article of the ten most popular Google doodles of 2012.
