Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Google Insights: Wikileaks and Wikipedia
So Julian Assange's rage-against-the-machine website Wikileaks actually, for one brief shining moment, overtook Wikipedia regarding Google searches. Funny that people Google Wikipedia at all - but it's probably because they don't use a dot-com address. Wikipedia surely must be the most-visited website not to use a .com domain name - or at least the most-visited American site not to.
Anyway, it turns out that Wikileaks is most-sought in Mozambique, Albania, Kenya, Lebanon and Ethiopia - a relatively random list of countries, three of which are in Africa (Uganda and Tanzania are also in the top-ten, leaving an unbroken strip of countriesrunning down the Indian Ocean coast of Africa). The fourth- and seventh-most-searched expression regarding Wikileaks is 'wikileaks en español' (with or without the 'en'), indicating that there are plenty of hispanophones hoping Wikileaks will translate those hundreds of thousands of pages into Spanish for them. Er, who live in Western Africa... Well, in all fairness Cuba is number seven on the list (and that just feels so completely appropriate), though it's the only Spanish-speaking country in the top-ten.
Among countries Googling Wikipedia, though, amazingly eight of the top-ten are Spanish-speaking (Cuba, Mexico, Honduras, Spain, Paraguay, Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua - the only exceptions are Italy and Finland). I have no idea why that is, though I could mention that while all foreign-language Wikipedias are hosted at wikipedia.org, they don't all call themselves 'Wikipedia'. Some call themselves, for example, ውክፔዲያ, Ƿikipǣdia, Vikipediya, વિકિપીડિયા, 維基百科, Viquipèdia, ᐅᐃᑭᐱᑎᐊ, വിക്കിപീഡിയ, Viqùipédie or Wikkipedija.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Google Insights: Santa's Reindeer
So in honour of the Christmas season... a quick look at Santa's reindeer. The first four, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen:
No real surprises here, that 'dancer' is most popular by far, followed by 'vixen' (both oddly enough highest-ranked in the Philippines). Or that nobody really ever searches for 'dasher' or 'prancer' (the last one really only shows up in connection with 'Flavor of Love' in some way I don't care to understand) - oddly enough, those two are most popular in the USA, and they do have peaks each December, though you have to take the other two search terms out to recognise that.
The second one, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen:
A bit odd here. I certainly wasn't expecting Comet to tower over the competition, entirely due to the UK, and also seasonal. Turns out "Comet" and "Currys" are electrical retailers in the UK that, I guess, are popular around Christmas? I wasn't surprised that 'blitzen' was most searched-for in Germany. I was surprised, though, that Belgium, France and the Côte D'Ivoire led for 'donner'. I've quite honestly gone my entire life without ever once thinking that the French verb for 'to give' and the seventh reindeer are spelt the same. 'Cupid' is (by a large margin) most searched-for in Myanmar, for some reason. But it's noteworthy that 'cupid' also has a seasonal trend - but not revolving around December. Cupid is most searched-for in February. Which makes sense. Poor Cupid has to work overtime on two different special days. Draw back your bow and let your arrow go.
No real surprises here, that 'dancer' is most popular by far, followed by 'vixen' (both oddly enough highest-ranked in the Philippines). Or that nobody really ever searches for 'dasher' or 'prancer' (the last one really only shows up in connection with 'Flavor of Love' in some way I don't care to understand) - oddly enough, those two are most popular in the USA, and they do have peaks each December, though you have to take the other two search terms out to recognise that.
The second one, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen:
A bit odd here. I certainly wasn't expecting Comet to tower over the competition, entirely due to the UK, and also seasonal. Turns out "Comet" and "Currys" are electrical retailers in the UK that, I guess, are popular around Christmas? I wasn't surprised that 'blitzen' was most searched-for in Germany. I was surprised, though, that Belgium, France and the Côte D'Ivoire led for 'donner'. I've quite honestly gone my entire life without ever once thinking that the French verb for 'to give' and the seventh reindeer are spelt the same. 'Cupid' is (by a large margin) most searched-for in Myanmar, for some reason. But it's noteworthy that 'cupid' also has a seasonal trend - but not revolving around December. Cupid is most searched-for in February. Which makes sense. Poor Cupid has to work overtime on two different special days. Draw back your bow and let your arrow go.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Google Insights: Ron Paul and Rand Paul
I decided to look up search trends for the unpleasant Paul family. I know father Ron was a big internet hype back in the day, but I expected to see son Rand eclipsing his father's star as of late. Well, yeah, 'eclipse' inasmuch as holding an aspirin at arm's length can obscure the moon in the sky. Rand is the aspirin, his father the moon. Check it out:
While Ron's map shows searches across the 50 states (with, oddly, Virginia and Vermont doing the worst and Montana doing the best), Rand's is very much contained in his old Kentucky home. Among the most popular search terms, I was disappointed to see that "Rand Paul hairstyle" does not show up. I mean, that's some bitchin' hair...
While Ron's map shows searches across the 50 states (with, oddly, Virginia and Vermont doing the worst and Montana doing the best), Rand's is very much contained in his old Kentucky home. Among the most popular search terms, I was disappointed to see that "Rand Paul hairstyle" does not show up. I mean, that's some bitchin' hair...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Google Insights: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Image via WikipediaThe days of the week. Or rather the weekdays, since Google Insights only allows five search terms.
Now the graph's dynamic, so what I write today will inevitably change. But it's sure to have that cool sawtooth look to it, and I bet it's sure tho have Friday towering over the rest - which makes sense if you think about it. Though as I write this, Friday and Monday have been neck-and-neck till recently, when Friday's taken off like a rocket. For some reason.
People Googling 'Monday' are most often looking for 'Monday Monday' and are, by a large majority, most often Kenyan (Kenyans don't Google the other four days). People Googling 'Tuesday' are most likely American and, suitably, are most often Googling 'Ruby Tuesday'. Wednesday belongs to New Zealand, but there being no song, it's 'On Wednesday' and 'Sheffield Wednesday' that top the list. Australians lead on Thursday, a day with seemingly a lot to do with football. 'Thursday Night' leads the pack. The Americans lead with Friday, Googling 'Black Friday' most, which I guess explains the recent increase in Friday-Googling. Ah, those Americans...
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Google Insights: Poor Chile
Poor, poor Chile. It hasn't been a good year. Or rather it has. I guess. It just depends on what you're looking for.
This isn't the whole world; the whole world includes Chile, and Chileans tend to Google Chile quite often. So it's the United States, where Googling Chile is way more common in Virginia and California than anywhere else. For some reason.
This is just the year 2010. Clearly, people Google Chile only when it's in the news. An earthquake, and some trapped miners. What interests the world (or more technically the USA) about Chile is what's under the ground.
This isn't the whole world; the whole world includes Chile, and Chileans tend to Google Chile quite often. So it's the United States, where Googling Chile is way more common in Virginia and California than anywhere else. For some reason.
This is just the year 2010. Clearly, people Google Chile only when it's in the news. An earthquake, and some trapped miners. What interests the world (or more technically the USA) about Chile is what's under the ground.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Bungle Jerry
And... back. After a bit of an unscheduled absence. "Did you miss me when I was gone?" asks a meek Bungle Jerry. "Snort," replies the next-to-non-existent audience. Let me prove it:
This is a graph of how many people, since 2004, have Googled 'bungle', 'jerry' and 'bungle jerry'. The third one is a bit silly, admittedly, since I haven't had this particular 'handle' that long, and like companies worldwide do when they introduce new products to the market, I Googled it first (probably the first person to do so - though it doesn't show up on this chart, sigh) and found nothing unsavoury or, well, at all.
Which is still the case, sadly. No surprise that 'jerry' outranks 'bungle'. People searching for the latter are primarily searching for 'bungle bungle' or 'mr bungle' and, oddly, come from Chile and Australia. 'Jerry' searches are most common in Morocco, Vietnam and Tunisia, members of la Francophonie all (because of Jerry Lewis?), and the top searches and rising searches include 'tom', 'tom jerry', 'tom and jerry', 'tom ve jerry', 'tom y jerry', 'tom si jerry', 'tom e jerry', 'tom et jerry', 'tom jerry games' and 'tom jerry video'. So, well, that prety much explains it.
This is a graph of how many people, since 2004, have Googled 'bungle', 'jerry' and 'bungle jerry'. The third one is a bit silly, admittedly, since I haven't had this particular 'handle' that long, and like companies worldwide do when they introduce new products to the market, I Googled it first (probably the first person to do so - though it doesn't show up on this chart, sigh) and found nothing unsavoury or, well, at all.
Which is still the case, sadly. No surprise that 'jerry' outranks 'bungle'. People searching for the latter are primarily searching for 'bungle bungle' or 'mr bungle' and, oddly, come from Chile and Australia. 'Jerry' searches are most common in Morocco, Vietnam and Tunisia, members of la Francophonie all (because of Jerry Lewis?), and the top searches and rising searches include 'tom', 'tom jerry', 'tom and jerry', 'tom ve jerry', 'tom y jerry', 'tom si jerry', 'tom e jerry', 'tom et jerry', 'tom jerry games' and 'tom jerry video'. So, well, that prety much explains it.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Face cards: jack, queen, king, ace and joker
A quickie this time. There are four face cards - Jack, Queen, King, Ace - and the Joker. I have no idea where the names come from, particulary 'jack' and 'ace'. It's all a bit silly, really. What are people Googling? Well, as it turns out:
Five distinct lines, no overlap. King way out front, then Jack, then Queen, then Ace, then Joker. People searching for 'King' are looking for Martin Luther King and Burger King, and the #1 country is, charmingly, Swaziland. People looking for 'Queen' are looking for 'Queen Elizabeth' and 'Dairy Queen', and Canada tops the list - the top five all Commonwealth countries except the USA. Americans look for 'Jack' most: Jack Johnson, Jack Black, Jack Russell, Jack Daniels. 'Ace' is high in Nepal, and it's about 'Ace Hardware' and 'Ace Ventura'.
More with cards:
Surprised by how low diamonds are, and by how much clubs are dropping. Hm.
Five distinct lines, no overlap. King way out front, then Jack, then Queen, then Ace, then Joker. People searching for 'King' are looking for Martin Luther King and Burger King, and the #1 country is, charmingly, Swaziland. People looking for 'Queen' are looking for 'Queen Elizabeth' and 'Dairy Queen', and Canada tops the list - the top five all Commonwealth countries except the USA. Americans look for 'Jack' most: Jack Johnson, Jack Black, Jack Russell, Jack Daniels. 'Ace' is high in Nepal, and it's about 'Ace Hardware' and 'Ace Ventura'.
More with cards:
Surprised by how low diamonds are, and by how much clubs are dropping. Hm.
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