I remember distinctly how Google reacted during the 9/11 attacks. Miserably, effectively telling people to go away and turn on television news, because its results were so out of date. How things have changed, in so many ways.
Recall Google back on September 11:
The problem was that Google had no news search engine. That’s since changed. Indeed, 9/11 and Google’s poor performance in providing information helped bring about the creation of Google News. And that’s what brings the improvement to Google today, causing its results to be topped by news reports:
I wasn’t online when the news first started circulating about Osama bin Laden being dead around 7:30 PM Pacific Time, so I’m not sure how Google’s results looked then. But I suspect that tweets began filling the gap until the news reports started appearing.
Despite the obvious interest, Google Trends (which reflect “rising” searches that are often propelled by news events), was slow to reflect queries. Here’s how it looked as of 8:54 PM Pacific Time, about 20 minutes after President Obama made his speech about bin Laden’s death:
But by 9PM Pacific Time, the results finally changed (they get updated hourly). Here’s the look from 9:06PM Pacific Time:
The top rising search was “osama bin laden dead” followed by “president obama.” With some irony, given Donald Trump’s attacks on Obama’s birth status, “celebrity apprentice 2011″ was ranked third. The show aired this evening.
The trends have since been updated again and reflect new interest in the story, as more details have emerged:
Perhaps this has happened before, where all the searches on Google Trends are dominated by one news story. I don’t know for certain. But I do know that it is very, very unusual — a sign of just how much interest there is.
Similar to Google Trends, Google Autocomplete — which is influenced by searches that are rising in popularity — initially didn’t have a suggestion about bin Laden being dead. Here’s how it looked to me at 8:54 PM Pacific Time:
And here’s how it looked at 9:06PM Pacific Time, when the query volume finally got reflected in the suggestions:
Back to Google Trends, one of the top queries is “obama address.” What do you get for results? News at the top but a pretty mixed bag after that:
After the news results, only three of the results after that are about tonight’s speech — and they don’t really stand out. Other listings cover Libya news, one on the Japanese nuclear crisis, another on the budget and Answers.com shows up talking about where Obama’s actual residential address is.
Well, “obama address” can and does have multiple meanings. You can expect these results will become more specific to tonight’s address, as the results get updated. I was still surprised, however, that 2 hours after Obama’s speech, the results hadn’t changed.
What’s being suggested, by the way, for a search on “obama? Oddly, not “obama address” as in Google Trends but rather “obama statement” and “obama announcement,” as shown on the right.
This might reflect how Google Trends is a bit behind. People might no longer be wanting information about a forthcoming statement but rather the actual statement (you’ll find it here) that was delivered.
I actually searched for “obama speech” myself and got a really strange juxtaposition:
Recall Google back on September 11:
You can see how Google was literally telling people to turn on their televisions. That’s because the results they got, if they did a search, were chilling, sad and not reflective of the tragedy that had just unfolded — one results (I’m still digging it up out of my archives) suggested seeing the view from the top of the World Trade Center.
Google eventually resorted to using its advertising space to tell people to look elsewhere:
I wasn’t online when the news first started circulating about Osama bin Laden being dead around 7:30 PM Pacific Time, so I’m not sure how Google’s results looked then. But I suspect that tweets began filling the gap until the news reports started appearing.
Despite the obvious interest, Google Trends (which reflect “rising” searches that are often propelled by news events), was slow to reflect queries. Here’s how it looked as of 8:54 PM Pacific Time, about 20 minutes after President Obama made his speech about bin Laden’s death:
But by 9PM Pacific Time, the results finally changed (they get updated hourly). Here’s the look from 9:06PM Pacific Time:
The top rising search was “osama bin laden dead” followed by “president obama.” With some irony, given Donald Trump’s attacks on Obama’s birth status, “celebrity apprentice 2011″ was ranked third. The show aired this evening.
The trends have since been updated again and reflect new interest in the story, as more details have emerged:
“Islamabad” is in the top queries, no doubt as people try to learn more about this closest major city to where bin Laden was killed. There’s interest in “al qaeda” and “9/11″ and “september 11,” all for obvious reasons. Searches for news sites such as “fox news” and “cbs news” have been pushed further down.
Looking at the full range of top “hot” searches, they are ALL related to the news of bin Laden’s death:
Perhaps this has happened before, where all the searches on Google Trends are dominated by one news story. I don’t know for certain. But I do know that it is very, very unusual — a sign of just how much interest there is.
Similar to Google Trends, Google Autocomplete — which is influenced by searches that are rising in popularity — initially didn’t have a suggestion about bin Laden being dead. Here’s how it looked to me at 8:54 PM Pacific Time:
And here’s how it looked at 9:06PM Pacific Time, when the query volume finally got reflected in the suggestions:
Back to Google Trends, one of the top queries is “obama address.” What do you get for results? News at the top but a pretty mixed bag after that:
After the news results, only three of the results after that are about tonight’s speech — and they don’t really stand out. Other listings cover Libya news, one on the Japanese nuclear crisis, another on the budget and Answers.com shows up talking about where Obama’s actual residential address is.
Well, “obama address” can and does have multiple meanings. You can expect these results will become more specific to tonight’s address, as the results get updated. I was still surprised, however, that 2 hours after Obama’s speech, the results hadn’t changed.
What’s being suggested, by the way, for a search on “obama? Oddly, not “obama address” as in Google Trends but rather “obama statement” and “obama announcement,” as shown on the right.This might reflect how Google Trends is a bit behind. People might no longer be wanting information about a forthcoming statement but rather the actual statement (you’ll find it here) that was delivered.
I actually searched for “obama speech” myself and got a really strange juxtaposition:
At the top were news results about bin Laden’s death. Below that, links to Obama’s humorous short “President’s Speech” movie this weekend, which seems to have been well received, at the Whie House Correspondents’ Association.
The results have since changed, as they will of course do for any and all searches, over time.
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