Written by Connor Zahler:
Google Trends is an interesting, yet mostly untapped, source of data and information. The premise is simple: Google releases data about how frequently data is searched, where it is searched, and when it is being searched. Through this, it’s possible to gain a sort of “snapshot” of the cultural imagination at any given time. Recently, Google released its “Year in Search,” which chronicles the most popular searches of different categories throughout the year. Let’s dive in and see what we can discover.
Before we begin, one important idea to understand is “search term.” When Google says that “Australia vs India” was the number one search term of 2021, it means that people searched that word more than any other word, compared to 2020. Seems simple, right? The point where it can become confusing is distinguishing it from a search topic. In the U.S., “Gabby Petito” was the third most common search term; however, she doesn’t reach the top ten for most searched people. “Kyle Rittenhouse,” fourth-searched search term, takes the number one spot there. How can this be? The difference is that search term refers to the exact term, while search topic is more broadly. More people searched “Gabby Petito” than “Kyle Rittenhouse,” but there were a lot of terms associated with Rittenhouse that could have also been searched. When you put those all together, Kyle Rittenhouse as a topic got more searches than Gabby Petito as a topic. With this in mind, we can dive deeper.
Unfortunately, QMSS did not make the list. Quantitative methods, however, were on everyone’s mind, as searches for COVID-19 statistics remained sky high. Economics was also a major topic, with many searches about meme stocks, how many people were resigning from their jobs, and the consequences of the Suez Canal blockage. More people than ever were searching for information about the causes, and consequences, of global climate change, along with keywords like “sustainability.” Those in the public health world may be interested to learn that searches for women’s health and mammograms specifically reached all time highs, as well as searches for how to maintain mental health. Sadly, Google Trends cannot help us answer the ever-present question of Python or R; since it doesn’t recognize R as a programming language search term, the data are like apples and oranges.
For our more general Michigan audience, this year was a good one. Michigan Wolverines Football doggedly chased Ohio State Buckeyes Football before finally overtaking it toward the beginning of December. As per usual, University of Michigan was far ahead of Michigan State University the whole year as a search term. New president Mary Sue Coleman saw a massive spike in attention following her appointment and has declined to a higher-than-usual level of searches. The brand-new CCCB gained massive attention at the start of the semester, although anticipation had led to a steady level throughout the fall semester.
Google Trends is a fascinating resource for any student of the social sciences. If you’re trying to learn more about what people care about, there are few better resources in this day and age.