(Almost) Everything I Wanted to Know About Human Behavior I Learned From Google Trends*
* For example, people may be more likely to find and read a blog post when a picture of Paris Hilton is attached.
Mindy Hernandez, Founder, One Decision
Usually, these posts describe findings about human behavior discovered from months of collecting and documenting original research. But some questions about human behavior—both serious (is there a flu pandemic headed my way?) and ridiculous (are people more interested in Paris Hilton or Paris, France?) can be answered within seconds from the comfort of your living room.
These answers all come from a surprisingly rich source of data: Google Trends and its more sophisticated sister, Google Insights.
Basically, these sites answer the questions: What are people all over the world wondering about right now? What about last year? Over time? What about in Kansas vs. New Delhi?
Google Trends and Google Insights show how often a search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across time and regions of the world. It’s a fascinating and potentially very powerful tool. In fact, Google teamed up with the CDC to use this search technology to track the spread of the flu across time and region.
Now, Google Trends is not going to allow you to slice and dice in nuanced ways, but it can give you indications of trends at a high level. It seems the tool is made for marketing executives- but there’s a great deal policy makers and practitioners can learn, too.
Timing Matters
Sometimes timing matters in an obvious and reassuring way. Let’s start with an easy one: Groundhogs. Nobody really cares about groundhogs until Groundhog Day when suddenly it seems everyone has groundhogs on the brain.
Google Trends - Groundhogs
This issue of timing is something NGOs and policymakers should think more about in terms of program roll out and enrollment.
Traditional economics might tell us that timing doesn’t matter that much. As long as my personal cost-benefit calculus hasn’t changed, I should be as interested in saving for retirement in November as in January. If going to college makes sense for me than I’ll go; whether the offer is made in winter or summer just doesn’t matter.
So I should be just as focused on finding a job on Monday as I am on Friday? Well, not exactly.
It seems our good intentions start strong on Monday but by Thursday and Friday we can see the weekend our attention has moved on to other things…
Google Trends, Jobs and Movies
Behavioral science recognizes that certain events, moments, situations can spark an interest or action. Ask me at the right moment and I’ll sign up for a weight loss plan. Ask me the week later and my attention has turned to movies and Paris Hilton. Our attentional/motivation window is only open so long- and it’s crucial to know when that is.
So what are some important times of year for decision-making?
New Year’s may be an extremely fertile time for self-improvement decisions for everything from losing weight to enrolling in college courses.
Weight Watchers and New Year’s
Google Trends - Weight Watchers
Tax Preparation
Google Trends - Tax Prep
Community College and New Year’s
You see a less dramatic trend here, but there are clearly spikes around January 1 of each year.
Google Trends - Community College
This post is Part 1 in a 2 part series. Stay tuned for more insights from Google Trends including the most promising times of year to encourage saving, the kinds of public assistance programs people are searching for (and which they aren’t) as well as links to other great trend finding resources.
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