Editing 2126: Google Trends Maps

{{comic
| number    = 2126
| date      = March 20, 2019
| title     = Google Trends Maps
| image     = google_trends_maps.png
| titletext = It's early 2020. The entire country is gripped with Marco Rubio fever except for Alaska, which is freaking out. You're frantically studying up on etiquette and/or sexting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Google Trends}} is a website for visualizing {{w|Google}} search activity by date and region. Used properly, it can give a picture of what topics people are interested in (as evidenced by what they search for) at particular times and in different places. Used improperly, it can simply [[1845:_State Word Map|amplify random noise]].

[[Randall]] has created several Google Trends maps of search activity in the US. Each map colors in states according to which of two (or more) search queries was more popular. As noted at the top of the comic, all of these based on real queries (though not reflecting the same time period across all maps). However, none of them seem to show any especially ''useful'' comparisons. States in gray did not return enough data for Google Trends to consider it significant.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Frostbite</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">heat stroke</span>":''' This is probably the most sensible comparison of the lot, showing which of these two risks of exposure people search up more often. However, the results are fairly obvious: in the colder northern and eastern states, "{{w|frostbite}}" is the more common search, while across the south and west, it's "{{w|heat stroke}}". In the map, a tiny part of North Carolina (specifically on the Outer Banks) is miscolored red compared to the rest of the state being blue.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Best church</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">best strip club</span>":''' This map would seem to indicate people in Nevada (and only in Nevada) are more interested in strip clubs than religion. This may have something to do with the fact that Las Vegas is in Nevada.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Bigfoot</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">Mike Pence</span>":''' Apparently, everywhere except for Indiana, people in the US are more interested in a mythical hairy creature than in the current (at the time of this comic's release) Vice President of the United States. Since {{w|Mike Pence}} was once the governor of Indiana, this makes more sense if the time period covered precedes his nomination as Trump's running mate.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Etiquette</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">sexting</span>":''' Similar to the church/strip club example, this map contrasts search interest in polite behavior (etiquette) against risqué behavior ({{w|sexting}}).

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Little dog</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">big cat</span>":''' The Trend map contrasts two searches for either oddly-sized pets (in particular, "little dog" probably refers to small domestic dog breeds such as the {{w|Chihuahua}}; "big cat" could refer to large domestic cat breeds such as the Maine Coone, but is somewhat more likely to refer to large wildcat species) or unidentified and briefly glimpsed wildlife that often snatch household pets left outside. The smallest canid in the wilds of America is the kit fox, ''Vulpes macrotis'', which is  smaller than the American wild dog, ''Canis lupus familiaris''. By contrast, "big cat" is a term for the largest members of the cat family (''Felidae''). Except for the jaguar, which is a roaring cat of the ''Panthera'' genus that inhabits Mexico and sometimes Arizona, the largest wild cat in North America is the mountain lion, ''Puma concolor''.  It is also known as cougar, puma, catamount, ghost cat, over seventy other regional names, and the misnomer panther.  (The cougar is ironically of the Felinae subfamily, all of which purr, and not Pantherinae, which roar.  Black panthers in Africa are black-coated leopards, while black panthers in the Americas are black-coated jaguars, and both are Pantherinae. No black-coated pumas have been verified, leading zoologists to believe such sightings are misidentified.)  "Little Dog" is also a Canadian television series, set in Newfoundland and Labrador, which explains the larger number of searches for Little Dog in Maine, the state closest to Newfoundland and Labrador. Interestingly, there mainly seems to be an inverse relationship between the range of coyotes and cougars and the respective searches.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Shark attack</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">childbirth</span>":''' While both of these things might be considered risky, there is not much of a relationship between them. As might be expected, the "shark attack" search is more common in most coastal states (and, for some reason, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Nevada, despite being landlocked). Just like Frostbite vs. heat stroke, a tiny part of North Carolina is miscoloured.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Snakes</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">ants</span>" vs "<span style="color:#e3bc65">bees</span>" vs "<span style="color:#9dc89f">alligators</span>":''' These are all dangerous animals that cause occasional human fatalities (mainly from allergic reactions for ants and bees). There is no noticeable pattern in which animal is searched most often, though only Florida has alligators as the most common search of the four. Florida presumably has Alligators as the most searched item on this list as it is where the Everglades are located, a vast area of swamp and marsh that, aside from maintaining the ecosystem and the water supply of Florida, also is home to an obscene number of alligators. This may also be a reference to comic #[[1845]], as Randall yet again chose a map embedding that draws attention to (and arguably makes fun of) Florida. The search volume for bees in Utah may be erroneous because Salt Lake City is home to the minor league baseball team "The Bees" and thus Utah would have a large number of searches looking for the baseball team rather than the animal.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Retirement planning</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">bungee jumping</span>":''' The implication here is that people in some states are more concerned with short-term fun rather than long-term planning. The contrast is more striking since {{w|bungee jumping}} is a potentially dangerous activity and people practicing it might be seen as likely to die young enough not to need a retirement plan. Bungee jumping is actually a quite safe activity, due to most operators following rigorous safety procedures, but habitual thrill-seekers may then end up putting themselves at greater risks in other ways.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Super Bowl</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">funeral home</span>":''' This is an attempt to contrast interest in a popular sports (and media) event against a rather somber topic.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Resume tips</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">skateboard tricks</span>":''' Another comparison between learning a "serious", goal-oriented skill (career advancement) and a "silly", fun skill (skateboarding). It is also an imperfect rhyme. Interestingly, of the states with enough data for a result, only Arizona had more hits for "skateboard tricks".

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Donald Trump</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">What do I do</span>":''' The implication here seems to be that people in some states are more likely to ask Google "what do I do?", either in panic or in ignorance, than they are to look up the latest doings of the US President. The split shown is not too different from the actual split between states voting for [[Donald Trump]] and for his opponent, {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, with the implication that states that tended to vote ''against'' Donald Trump being more likely to search for information about him than resort to the more existential query. This may be regardless of personal ideology, in either case, as both supporters and detractors will have their own reasons to follow their respective state's trend; boiled down to this intentionally simplified view, it leaves the reasoning fully open to individual interpretation.

* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Existential crisis</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">Marco Rubio</span>":''' Senator {{w|Marco Rubio}} was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Everywhere but Alaska, people were more likely to look up his name than to search for "existential crisis". This may be due to {{w|Cabin Fever}}, which is common in Alaska due to the long, dark winters and frequent isolation.

The title text uses two of these maps to paint a picture of the year 2020 (implying that these search patterns are both meaningful and likely to continue into the future). In this scenario, most of the country continues to read about Marco Rubio (except for Alaskans, still searching for help with their existential crises), and individuals are trying to learn about etiquette, sexting, or both, depending on their location.

==Transcript==
:The least informative
:'''Google Trends Maps'''
:I've created over the years

:(All are real but not all cover the same date range)

:[12 maps of the United States are shown with the states colored. There are labels for the colors.  Refer to the explanation for details on which states or areas are which color.]

:[Map 1]
:[Blue:] Frostbite
:[Red:] Heat stroke

:[Map 2]
:[Blue:] Best church
:[Red:] Best strip club

:[Map 3]
:[Blue:] Bigfoot
:[Red:] Mike Pence

:[Map 4]
:[Blue:] Etiquette
:[Red:] Sexting

:[Map 5]
:[Blue:] Little dog
:[Red:] Big cat

:[Map 6]
:[Blue:] Shark attack
:[Red:] Childbirth

:[Map 7]
:[Blue:] Snakes
:[Red:] Ants
:[Yellow:] Bees
:[Green:] Alligators

:[Map 8]
:[Blue:] Retirement planning
:[Red:] Bungee jumping

:[Map 9]
:[Blue:] Super Bowl
:[Red:] Funeral home

:[Map 10]
:[Blue:] Resume tips
:[Red:] Skateboard tricks

:[Map 11]
:[Blue:] Donald Trump
:[Red:] What do I do

:[Map 12]
:[Blue:] Existential crisis
:[Red:] Marco Rubio

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:US maps]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Ants]]
[[Category:Bees]]
[[Category:Sharks]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]
[[Category:Google Search]]