When a young person with a clipboard approaches you on the street to ask a survey question, the researchers think they are obtaining the true thoughts of a randomised sample. That may well be the case – but it does depend on the question and the person’s thoughts.
For example, if a survey question was, “Are you racist?” then I guarantee very few people would respond in the affirmative. Even though some of those people may be racist, they recognise that they probably shouldn’t broadcast it loudly and proudly.
Google, on the other hand, may well have the greatest insight into the true thoughts of people across the globe. Sitting in the comfort and privacy of their own home, people ask Google all sorts of questions safe in the anonymity of the process. The results though may be a little confronting. In the same way that Mel Gibson in ‘What Women Want’ had the ability to read the minds of women and didn’t necessarily like what he saw, I am not convinced that society is that ready to see what people are searching for.
But I will tell you anyway.
Let me stress here that Google says they do not keep or publish information on what an individual may search for but they do collate data over geographical regions.
We generally like to think of Aussies as laid back and relaxed and maybe have a few beers watching the footy. What we search for though reveals a lot more anxiety and stress then we will admit publicly. We are the number one country in the world for searches related to looking for help with anxiety. Who woulda guessed?
In America, the number of searches for racist jokes mocking African-Americans alarmed the Google data analysts. It seems that very few people will admit to being fans of Donald Trump but when Google searches reveal overt racism and voting occurs in the same private environment, it may explain how a seemingly unpopular person can be elected.
Many may argue that the explosion of the Internet was driven by online pornography. In fact, Danni Ashe pioneered Internet porn and led the way for e-commerce and secure payment systems such as PayPal. No-one will admit to watching porn – but obviously the numbers are there. The search term ‘porn’ is consistently in the top ten searches worldwide – but try and find a public survey that will rate porn anywhere in the top 100!
While porn sites have been a consistent performer for Google searches, dating sites are delivering many new-found searches to the Google list. There are too many to list but I am not convinced that all of these people are letting their friends – and sometimes partners – know that they are using these sites.
It may sound scary, but Google also believes that they can help with people when they are at their most vulnerable. When a person sitting on their loungeroom at night searches for symptoms that may match a known disease, recommendations may come up for doctors nearby that can further investigate. Or searches on suicide methods may deliver the phone number of Lifeline to the user to give them a much better alternative.
As much as the information found by Google is interesting, I can also see the potential for good. The data in the wrong hands or specific to individuals could destroy reputations very quickly.
I just hope my wife doesn’t look at my search history after I have written this article. Dating sites; racism; pornography; suicide; anxiety…not sure if ‘research for an article’ is an accepted excuse!
Mathew Dickerson