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An article in Washingtonpost.com has posed some interesting questions about what people are searching for in Google and why they are asking Google instead of asking a human. The article is called The Google Ogle Defense: A Search for America's Psyche.
Monica Hesse asks, "Are we what we Google?" (This sounds VERY Carrie Bradshaw to me..)
Apparently a Florida attorney had intended to argue that Google records showing a large number of pornographic search terms were reflecting the community values. The case was later settled out of court.
What do our search terms say about our culture?
I personally hate exposing my search terms to other people. My laptop crashed so I am using my boyfriend's computer at the moment. I despise auto complete because I assume that every time my boyfriend types in the letter E, the search engine predicts that he is searching for engagement rings... and he probably has a nervous break down knowing that I'm looking at ring styles :)
The Washingtonpost.com article uses the example or the search term "orgy" v. "apple pie" in Google Trends. The image shows the results.
As you can see, "orgy" searches are more frequent than "apple pie" searches.
I think this topic has interesting connections for the library field.
What do people feel more comfortable asking Google instead of a friend, family member, therapist, doctor, librarian, ____? People are probably more comfortable Googling topics that are taboo to discuss, and they are more likely to ask their mom or grandma for an apple pie recipe.
I can tell that many of my Millennial students prefer asking reference questions via instant messenger (we use Meebo) or email instead of face-to-face. When students submit a question via Meebo, they often just appear as a Meeboguest###, and I think that anonymity is appreciated. This is especially helpful for students that assume they are asking a stupid question---which doesn't ever really exist, right fellow educators?
Are you going to be more conscious about your search terms? Last week I was doing multiple searches about snakes because we had a few snakes in our front yard (and yes, I squealed when we saw them slithering), but could pet stores see the increase in search terms and assume that there is a demand for snakes as pets? I wonder how analyzing Google Trends will effect business ventures.
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Comments
07.09.08
This is what Mark Twain meant when he said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
What is the percentage of people who really care about about apple pie vs orgies? Lets see... Im thinking about all men and a portion of women may google orgies (60-70%), where as a small portion of men (less then 10%) and maybe 30% or less of women have googled apple pie.
Plus how many times in a year would you make apple pie? (my guess is one - there are so many pies).
But how many times in a week can one man look at pictures of orgies?
We are not comparing apples to apples (no pun intended) here although the author makes it seem like we are (and this is exasperated by the blogger)
07.09.08
I'd be interested in seeing the comparison between searches about "baseball" and "orgy" :)
07.09.08
@Scott M.- Too funny. You get my first laugh of the day. Love it.
07.10.08
Ha! Ha! I don't use Google!!! So I guess it won't apply to ME!!!
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