If you can remember the Internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before Google (yes, that's eons ago, I know), the search engine landscape had a face, and his name was Jeeves. AskJeeves.com, the predecessor to Ask.com, was a popular search engine which used the balding cartoon character as its mascot. In 2006, however, Jeeves was "retired" as the search engine's representative.
Today, Jeeves has reemerged, but only for the UK version of Ask. What's more, he's diving into social media with his own Facebook and Twitter accounts.
According to SearchEngineLand, Ask found that Jeeves had 83% brand awareness, compared to 72% awareness for Ask.com - even though Jeeves hasn't appeared on the site for 3 years. Not only is he back on the homepage, but he appears on most search pages with search query suggestions and helps answer "questions of the day."
In addition to being integrated throughout the Ask UK search engine, the company apparently intends to use Jeeves as a vessel for promotion via social media. First of all, he has a Twitter account, although he has not made any updates yet. His Facebook page, however, already has some status updates from Jeeves, as well a small group of fans.
It would seem that having a character as your mascot is a big advantage in the social media age: wouldn't you rather befriend Jeeves on Facebook than become a fan of the Ask.com logo?