Mashable April Fools Prank: Conan O’Brian Buys Mashable

Mashable has pulled an amazing marketing stunt by pulling together what I can call one of the best internet April Fool pranks.

Here is the official post verbatim:

Hello, fellow Mashables. It’s Conan O’Brien, and I’ve got big news. Two hours ago, I purchased Mashable.com. I’ve taken it over. Why did I take it over? Very simple reason.

I’m sick and tired of scanning the Internet looking for any news about technology: Devices, gadgets, what’s coming up, maybe even a rating system for gadgets that are out there. It doesn’t exist on the web and it’s high time it did.

I go to the Mashable see the atrocious job they’re doing. So I decided it’s time for me to take it over.

That’s why, several hours ago, I called Pete Cashmore and I told him, “You’re out! Get out! You’re through Cashmore! Through! Get out!”

Of course, keep in mind, I was screaming “Get out” from a phone call and he was speaking at home…So it wasn’t clear what I was throwing him out of. We straightened that out.

He said, “You’ll have to buy me out.” I said, “Buy you out? How about thirty-five hundred smackeroos?” He didn’t know what smackeroos were, but we talked again.

There’s going to be a lot of changes around here. So stay tuned, cause I’m in charge now. I’m going to be sending out a lot of tweets!

Mashable.com’s design is all changed and traffic is sure to spike as thousands of people (including me) are writing about the amazing prank they have pulled. What is surprising is that many people are just reporting it as news rather than a prank. Does anyone think it is for real? Really??

Nicely played Mashable!