Facebook Almost Had a Blue Hedgehog Mascot

Maybe they'd never heard of Sonic?
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 1, 2011 9:00 AM CST
Updated Feb 6, 2011 10:57 AM CST
Facebook Almost Had a Blue Hedgehog Mascot
No, not this guy. Though come on, the comparison was inevitable.   (©wlodi)

Facebook for a while actually considered adopting a blue hedgehog mascot—no, not that blue hedgehog mascot—in the apparent belief that friendly animals were the key to winning over businesses. In a recent response to a Quora question, spotted by the LA Times, an ex-Facebook employee reveals that back in 2005, then-Facebook President Sean Parker had pushed strongly for the mascot as a promotional tool for pitching a Yelp-like service to local businesses.

“Sean wanted us to send each participating business a little stuffed blue hedgehog,” the ex-employee writes, saying he even shopped around for manufacturers. Parker also wanted to get a real hedgehog for the office, but because of California law, they would have had to get it from Nevada. “Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your affinity for hedgehogs) Sean couldn’t convince any of us to drive there to get one.” When the local business product got canned, so did the hedgehog. (Click for more on Facebook ... and whether students can safely call their teachers naughty names on it.)

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