Google’s “Made by Google ‘25” event had signs for the live audience to clap when an “applause” sign comes on during the event.

Andru Edwards on X:

At this Made by Google event they are asking MEDIA AND PRESS to clap when an “applause” sign comes on during the event. This is kind of wild.

The thing is, I bet there’s be almost as much applause without a cue to ask people to clap, because there are a lot of genuinely great/impressive things Google is announcing today.

Andru has been at Apple events, and he describes briefly what goes on there:

The people clapping at Apple events are generally the Apple employees - the teams that worked on the features. The media is busy typing/recording/posting. And there are no applause signs.

That being said, I have to give Google props for at least doing a live event, even if it’s hard to tell whether or not the audience is genuinely interested when they cheer.