It’s not truly April Fools Day until you have been rickrolled… or have tactfully rickroll someone else. (I am sure you are aware of the many other offline, more traditional AFD pranks if you were previously unaware of rickrolling’s existence.) Even more entertaining than the pranks that may occur within your office are the pranks online companies play on their users. Among the most notorious AFD company pranksters is Google who happens to have a whole wikipedia entry dedicated to their witty practical jokes. So what online happened this year? Here is a small sampling of some of the creative pranks our online friends played on us in 2011.

Google: Posts job for “Autocompleter“, intros “Comic Sans for Everyone” extension

Gmail: Introduces “Gmail Motion” – control Gmail using only your body

LinkedIn: Updates “People You May Know” contact recommendation engine to list some interesting suggestions… including Albert Einstein

Flickr: Claims they just discovered the typo in their name and are switching to “Flicker”

Hootsuite: Launches “Happy Owls” game – a fun spin on Angry Birds

YouTube: Sends its site back to 1911, displaying films including Top 5 Viral Pictures of 1911

Hulu: Sends its homepage back to 1996, displaying TV hits including The X-Files, Murder One

Yelp: States they are going national with Yelp Deals – first deal = puppy rentals

Groupon: Announces their patent application for AFD

Starbucks: Introduces “Mobile Pour” in which your mobile orders are brought to you via scooter

Kodak: Introduces “Photo Tatoos” on their homepage

IKEA: Introduces their dog high chair (dog not included)

Sources: TechCrunch, TWN, PCMag, Huffington Post, Search Engine Land