This is a fascinating insight into the weird and wonderful world of health-related terms that people type into search engines. Who would have guessed the phrase "Where is my liver?" would be one of the top 10 searches starting with the words "where is"!
These terms provide great insights into what health topics people are curious about, what they're worried about and how they're educating themselves.
Heather Dougherty of Hitwise, an online data analytics firm, shares information and insights into the online landscape, drug recalls, and consumer behaviour.
These terms provide great insights into what health topics people are curious about, what they're worried about and how they're educating themselves.
Heather Dougherty of Hitwise, an online data analytics firm, shares information and insights into the online landscape, drug recalls, and consumer behaviour.
She talks about top search terms, spikes in search activity and what they mean, as well as where people are looking for information - e.g., 40% are looking at large information websites such as WebMD. There are the expected trends regarding self-diagnosis and also an accurate reflection on current health & food related concerns, like H1N1 and salmonella outbreaks.
Heather concludes with 3 key takeaways:
- Internet is prevalent in everyone's everyday life - consumers are searching to self-diagnose and get second opinions
- The e-trail we leave behind is rich with potential insights
- Beware the narrative fallacy
I would raise the following questions:
- · Is this only for computer addicted folks?
- · How can Granddad benefit?
- · What if this was combined with bio-surveillance capability using EHR/EMR data?
Reminds me of http://www.google.org/flutrends/
ReplyDeletewhich I heard about 3 years ago for the first time. Did they ever checked this out in Germany with the "Schweinegrippe" last year?
not in Germany, but they are working on it in Mexico
ReplyDelete