Talk:2302: 2020 Google Trends

The graph for US searches for those terms for the past year from Google Trends can be seen here: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2019-05-05%202020-05-04&geo=US&q=sewing%20machine,webcam,andrew%20cuomo,flour,pangolin

OK, now I want to see a Google Trends graph for the above exact search! John.Adriaan (talk) 01:00, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Here is the searches but done by topic instead of exact search (its generally recommended to do it this way) https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2019-05-05%202020-05-04&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F0llzx,%2Fm%2F0mynm,%2Fm%2F02pjpd,%2Fm%2F0fkw3,%2Fm%2F0dh5j

Anyone have any idea about the September spike and December bump in webcam searches? 162.158.74.93 22:49, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

The September spike seems to be due to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dorian. This can be traced down by google trends when narrowing down the date range and looking at the top search phrases that hint at the Bahamas. 22:52, 4 May 2020 (UTC) --- The hurricane theory seems to agree with a similar spike in mid 2018, days before hurricane Florence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Florence as seen in https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2018-08-01%202018-10-01&geo=US&q=webcam. I'd hope webcams would last more than a year...

I agree. There's a spike for webcams every September since 2017, along with a small spike aligning with Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and a spike in October 2018 with Hurricane Michael. 162.158.78.104 00:03, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Why is the webcam search profile so different for worldwide vs. US? 172.68.132.229 23:36, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Is there a possibility that some of the September Spike in webcams is a (later in years than I'd expect, and surely quashed a bit by smartphones) sudden demand for Family Time with newly departed higher-education students? A modern equivalent remnant of the old September Madness that was at first boosted and then rendered moot by The Eternal September..? (But if it is hurricane season that drives it, and I'm not sure it would be, the fact that (for example) "In Hertford, Hereford, and (not-New) Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen" might explain why it isn't a worldwide driver.) 141.101.107.164 01:47, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

I would say it is exactly that. A Freshman off to college for the first time, and they and the parents want to make sure they can stay connected. -boB (talk) 20:50, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

RE: All the webcam speculation: There is a spike not due to people buying a webcam, but watching a webcam of the storm surge hitting. Keep in mind that "BEST WEBCAM TO TALK WITH GRANDCHILDREN" and "HURRICANE XYZ WEATHER WEBCAM" both contain the indicated search terms. I'm interpreting the comments above as the first scenario here, instead of the latter. OhFFS (talk) 15:04, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

GOOMHR! (damn, haven't wrote/read that in quite a while) - I was just checking random Google Trends few days ago and wondered what would people from the past think of it. Some examples (both positive and negative trends here): [1] (I especially like the "how to cook" one with its predictive spikes for the past few years). Those are better viewed one by one, instead on a single graph, though. BytEfLUSh (talk) 01:55, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Also: Why not a paper pangolin, or at least a paper chef's hat? [2] =) BytEfLUSh (talk) 03:44, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Sorry for spamming, but this is too much fun: [3] [4] BytEfLUSh (talk) 04:29, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Indeed it is! The pandemic shows up in the google trends for soooo many widely different categories. I had some fun creating several different plots that would be as confusing as possible without the appropriate context: Yeast, China, Netflix, football, cinema; delivery, test, hotel, how to, meeting; tour, bike, flight, alcohol, workout (note how bike and tour are usually correlated but diverge during the lockdowns); office chair, hockey, laptop, furlough, pasta; candle, adopt, barbecue, trip, clapping; restaurant, paris, italy, toilet paper, coffee Rebekka (talk) 06:39, 1 August 2023 (UTC)

Technically there are a few people every year that are indeed from past years: Those that woke up from a long coma. Fabian42 (talk) 09:27, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

A non-coma version can be read in https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52332899 (not from a 2019 perspective; saw the start early this year, but did not realise it hadn't petered out into the expected obscurity). Didn't the Germany/similar version of Big Brother also have to deliberately break the news to the participants? Forgot to look that up, too. 162.158.159.82 13:37, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

Should the explanation include some reason/event why the peaks begin when they do? Like "Sewing Machine" begins pretty late and I think that corresponds to the CDC changing from telling people "If you're not a healthcare worker, don't bother with masks just keep your distance from people" to "if you have to go out, wear a mask to minimize your chance of spreading the virus". The early rise of flour could be the combined effect of people who are stuck at home doing more baking, and the panic buying clearing out the grocery store shelves. Pangolin rose early and slowly, but dropped off before the end of march; speculation on exactly how the virus started in Wuhan would be more interesting before the virus is in your country, so as it spread the search interest changed over to topics that impact a person directly more than speculation.162.158.187.187 12:53, 5 May 2020 (UTC)

IIII is a clock error.172.69.63.173 23:12, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

People from China may have guessed it based on pangolin, as it was hit hard by SARS-CoV-1 virus in 2003, and there were already speculations that pangolin or other wild animals sold in markets got the virus and passed it to humans. COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus and pangolins become a suspect again. History rhymes really hard this time. Lamty101 (talk) 08:02, 26 September 2023 (UTC)