ICYMI: Google’s Arts & Culture App Has a Fun Selfie Feature

Google is great at coming up with some pretty fun stuff.  I mean the whole idea of “Googling” something is fascinating, isn’t it?  I remember back when Google was new and it was fun to just look something up, or use the “I’m feeling lucky” button.  Of course, now Google is a mainstay of our existence.  We probably use it in kind of a lazy way.  When I say we, please note that I am mostly talking about myself.  But I’m sure there are people out there who can relate. Now they’ve got this really neat (and free) app called Google Arts & Culture.  The app was designed to provide people with the ability to take virtual museum tours and search for famous works of art.  But there’s a feature found within the app that has people really excited right now.

Not to mention, but it’s started a viral social media trend and seems to be picking up steam at the moment.  When I first saw Chris Hardwick post a picture of himself next to a famous painting, I just assumed he was being silly.  These kinds of things aren’t uncommon for him to tweet, so I didn’t think anything of it.  But then I started to see more and more people on Twitter posting a selfie next to a picture of a famous piece of art.  Usually in the form of a portrait.  Which lead me to believe that it wasn’t just Hardwick being funny.

This app, in general, was relatively unknown.  It offers a suite of terrific features for those interested in art, but it’s certainly not among Google’s most widely used apps. However, that is changing quite quickly because people have discovered a new feature that they’re having a blast with right now on social media. The fun new feature lets users take a selfie, while Google’s complex visual search technology then analyzes. The app then searches its database to find a famous portrait hanging in a museum that most closely resembles the selfie. Some fine art look-alikes are more accurate than others, of course, and the app displays a percentage that indicates just how alike the selfie and painting are.

Is this something that you’ve used?  Or would you use?  I think it looks like a lot of fun. No, I haven’t had the time to download it and see what famous painting that I look like.  Although, I’m worried what the app would tell me.  But this is a really interesting app.  In general, I think it’s easy for us to pass off certain apps as not for us.  Especially if you’re not into art.  I mean, I find myself being drawn to photography over this kind of art, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.  That’s why I think Google has done a really good job with this app.  They are going to be able to bring people in who might not have been interested in art before and open them up to that world.

In addition, though, you can take tours of famous museums without having to be there.  Which is yet another way that Google brings the world to you. Sure, going to one of these famous museums is far better than seeing it on your phone.  But it makes the world more accessible to people who maybe don’t have the cash to travel.  And I think that’s amazing.