After 13 years, the Google Friends Newsletter has been retired.
The first newsletter was sent out by Google co-founder, Larry Page on April 29, 1998. The last one was sent out on July 29, 2011. Here is a picture:
The full newsletter reads:
It's hard to believe, but this monthly missive is now 13 years old. We hope you've enjoyed reading it over time, and wanted you to know that we are retiring it in its current form.As you may know, the Google Friends Newsletter was created by Larry Page in April 1998, when Google was still on Stanford servers. In the early days, the Friends notes offered newsy details like "We are gearing up to do another crawl. We should start within a few weeks" and tips on tweaking your search queries.
Obviously a lot has happened since then, including changes in how we communicate updates to all of you. So this will be our last Google Friends Newsletter. We started the Official Google Blog in 2004 and joined Twitter in 2009, and we've seen dramatic growth on those channels. Meanwhile, the number of subscribers to this newsletter has remained flat, so we've concluded that this format is no longer the best way for us to get the word out about new Google products and services.
You can still get updates and power tips from Google in several ways:
The Official Google Blog - http://www.googleblog.blogspot.com Our main blog features the widest range of our biggest news and announcements. Subscribe to our blog posts by email—no more than one per day—by scrolling to the "Subscribe" box on the right-hand side of the blog. You can also subscribe to the blog in an RSS reader, or pick and choose which subject(s) you'd like to get news about by subscribing to a topical label (look on the right-hand side for this list).
Topical blogs - http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/blog-directory.html Visit our blog directory to find a blog that covers just what you're interested in, whether it's Chrome or search, or blogs in additional languages that cover countries around the world.
Twitter - http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/twitter-directory.html We have a wide variety of Twitter feeds covering many different topics. Visit our Twitter directory and follow the ones that strike your fancy.
We hope you enjoy whichever channels you choose. You're always a Google friend to us!
Goodbye Google Friends Newsletter!
Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums.
