Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Visualizing Searches Over Time

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the half-past-chat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Chris Harrison has built a visualization that explores what people are doing online over time. He explains, 'Search engines are the gateway to the internet for most people, and so search queries provide insight into what people are doing and thinking. In order to examine millions of search queries, I built a simple, cyclical, clock-like visualization that displays the top search terms over a 24-hour period.' Interesting to see that the masses online have fairly coherent and consistent search behaviors. He also investigates the notorious AOL dataset."

8 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Locale? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Interesting

    TFA talks about the time of day that certain terms were searched for but doesn't say what timezone he is assuming the searchers are in. Most people assume you are talking about the USA these days, but even that covers four hours. But what about Europe? Even back in 1997 they must have accounted for a fair chunk of searches.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:Locale? by an.echte.trilingue · · Score: 4, Interesting
      He uses Eastern time. Read the notes.

      What I find amusing is the fact that one of the most popular search terms in the AOL data set was "myspace," which he attributes to AOL targeting home users who desire to use the internet for social activities. To me, this indicates that people who use AOL to search do not know the difference between a search box and a URL bar.

      --
      weirdest thing I ever saw: scientology advertising on slashdot.
    2. Re:Locale? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

      To me, this indicates that people who use AOL to search do not know the difference between a search box and a URL bar.

      I have set up systems for people who are very non-technical and they are exactly like that. They want one way to find stuff and having an alternate confuses them terribly. So I set their home page to google and tell them to search for what they want.

      And yes, if I had read down a bit further I would have seen him discuss timezones. The web started at CERN, of course.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    3. Re:Locale? by MicktheMech · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If you scroll down that page to where he talks about google and yahoo you'll find that's exactly the case. Apparently, Google is by far the most common AOL search term.

  2. My new hobby... by omgamibig · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...is to find explanations for the jumps in google trend graphs. This one really got me: http://www.google.com/trends?q=death Explain the sudden rise in 2006. Reason: http://www.google.com/trends?q=death%2C+steve+irwi n%2C+sting+ray&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all Another interesting thing is that searches including 'fuck' increase during weekends: http://www.google.com/trends?q=fuck&ctab=0&geo=all &date=2006-10

    1. Re:My new hobby... by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here's a real weird one: what killed searching for Soviet Russia in 2004?

      --
      Demented But Determined.
    2. Re:My new hobby... by Eudial · · Score: 4, Interesting

      ...is to find explanations for the jumps in google trend graphs. This one really got me: http://www.google.com/trends?q=death Explain the sudden rise in 2006. Reason: http://www.google.com/trends?q=death%2C+steve+irwi n%2C+sting+ray&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all Another interesting thing is that searches including 'fuck' increase during weekends: http://www.google.com/trends?q=fuck&ctab=0&geo=all &date=2006-10


      Well then, I challenge you to explain this: http://www.google.com/trends?q=salmon+rice&ctab=2& geo=all&date=all
      --
      GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
  3. Mixing up search boxes by Kelson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To me, this indicates that people who use AOL to search do not know the difference between a search box and a URL bar.

    Semi-off-topic, but there do seem to be an awful lot of people who get input fields mixed up. I run a comic book fan site that profiles characters connected to the Flash. The character has been around since 1940, so there are a lot of villains, supporting characters and guest stars to add. I've tried to make finding specific characters as easy as possible for multiple styles of navigation and search.

    A bit over a year ago, I added a suggestion box to the home page. One of the odd things I found was that people were seemingly requesting that I add profiles for characters who were already on the site. After a while, I realized that people were seeing the suggestion box and treating it as a search box -- despite the fact that there was a search box in the sidebar on every page.

    In response, I made two changes: First, I changed the "Thanks for your suggestion!" page to incorporate any hits from the site search on the terms entered. Eventually, I redesigned the site layout to make the search field more noticeable.