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Google tracks Flu-related search queries to give indications of current flu outbreaks: http://www.google.org/flutrends/ http://www.google.org/flutrends/ I'd i
by mootothemax 12y ago
Google tracks Flu-related search queries to give indications of current flu outbreaks:
http://www.google.org/flutrends/ http://www.google.org/flutrends/
I'd imagine that they track other possible trends indicating an epidemic, and share the result with government health departments and NGOs.
Does anyone know if they actually do this, though?
- duaneb 12y agoI would imagine this would be something that Google would be skittish to get into. Flu symptoms are a) common and b) well known. Tracking symptoms of arbitrary potential epidemics could be very difficult to design, let alone verify, and there's little benefit to Google. Not even PR if they raise a false flag.
- mootothemax 12y agoTracking symptoms of arbitrary potential epidemics could be very difficult to design Does it need to be terribly precise, though? If, for example, lots of searches spring up for vomiting or sweating in a small radius, I'd imagine that'd raise a "Hey, you might like someone to look at this flag," which could be useful - just as long as the computers aren't shouting all day long.
- odonnellryan 12y agoIt's awesome, because companies use this to drive profit. I worked IT for a company that had an entire department (think up to ten people!) just crawling sites like this all day to determine where to increase their advertising. They made flu-related medicines.