I don’t know if the rest of you have spent a lot of time messing around with Google Trends but I certainly have. Personally, it’s one of my favorite Google apps. Being able to manipulate and analyze Google’s search data is a really awesome opportunity and one which I hope they expand on eventually. Here are a few trend comparisons I’ve made which I think are pretty interesting:
And the most common misspelling of facebook is…
http://www.google.com/trends?q=facebok%2C+faceboo%2C+facbook&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
This one’s kind of eerie:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=marijuana%2C+depression%2C+obesity%2C+poverty&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
Now picture the graph of the NEXT social networking website:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=myspace%2C+facebook&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
Too close for comfort:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=lady+gaga%2C+music
4 responses so far ↓
JNakatomo // 28 February 2010 at 7.04 pm
One of the coolest applications of Google Trends relates to epidemic modelling. You see, most people are aware of their symptoms long before they decide to see a doctor about a medical issue. When the symptoms aren’t severe, people often turn to Google searches as a way of deciding how they will treat their problem. Thus, one of the earliest indicators of an emerging epidemic is increased search volume for specific symptoms. They even published a paper about it in Nature!
I would be remiss, however, if I did not refer people to the “improved” version of Google Trends. It’s called “Google Insights” and does some cool stuff that Google Trends doesn’t. For instance, look at this graph:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=iPhone&geo=US&cmpt=date
It not only shows the history of iPhone searches but also has an option for FORECASTING when people will search iPhone in the future. For that reason, if you think they will launch the 4G iPhone in July, you can tell that you should sell your 3GS iPhone in June when search volume will be high in anticipation of the new launch. Pretty cool how Google is trying to use its search data to predict the future in addition to analyzing the past.
pcef91 // 28 February 2010 at 9.48 pm
Thanks for showing me this. In general I think it’s good that Google is so open about the data they’re collecting. By letting people see some of the benefits of having their internet activities recorded, hopefully Google can avoid some of the negative attention that companies like Facebook have received.
Also, I heard something about that epidemic modeling concept at some point but then forgot about it, so thanks for reminding me
trip333 // 28 February 2010 at 10.10 pm
The coolest thing about this (both trends and insight) is the relationship which the data has to our culture. The number of times which something is searched on a particular web site (Google) directly corresponds to how much its on people’s minds. The fact that the web has spawned a method for measuring culture and cultural phenomena, and that it is the result of a tool we all use is incredible.
saltaire // 1 March 2010 at 12.44 pm
This data is pretty nuts … had a little trouble reading the graphs at first. I like how open Google is about its data collection.
I agree with ‘trip’ this data is very telling about our culture, which may shock some, but it doesn’t seem too far from the truth for me.