Google Data Shows Occupy Movement Is Losing Steam

If the number of Google searches is any indication, the Occupy Wall Street movement, which spawned offshoots in cities across the nation, appears to be losing steam.

An analysis of the number of searches done for Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Boston, and Occupy Los Angeles via the metrics provided by Google Trends shows a dramatic decline for searches for information on each movement.

See the Google Trends Data Here.

Inquiries went into a free fall after October 15, when the searches peaked for Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Los Angeles. Searches for Occupy Boston peaked on October 11.

While the data provided by a Google Trends analysis is starkly different from the scientific approach used by pollsters, it is nonetheless telling of public interest. Further, large percentage of Occupy protesters are from the digital age generation, and are quite likely to use Google to research the movement.

Google's own description of how its Trends feature works is described as follows:

Google Trends analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. We then show you a graph with the results -- our Search Volume Index graph.

And while Google admits that the data is not scientific and subject to inaccuracies, it also suggests that it is a useful tool for matters as serious as the tracking of the flu across the globe.

 

 

 

 

Follow Anthony Amore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/amoream

Comments

[Sundialsvc4]

03:43 PM on 10/28/2011

I do not find any plausible reason to assume that "the number of Google searches" means that a popular movement is "losing steam." Once people know what something is, they don't have to continue searching for it.

What I want to see now is for this movement, having gained popular attention, to focus on ways of getting State legislatures to compel changes to actually happen in Congress.

First, you have to apply pressure to get movement started. (That, slowly, is happening now.) That pressure must then be continuously applied.

Next, you have to apply direction to what you have started ... to channel it, ironically enough WITHIN the established legislative systems, to achieve the social changes (and maybe the government reconstructions) that you are contemplating.

It isn't easy and it isn't quick. It isn't designed to be easy, and it isn't designed to be quick.

[Totalitarianliberalism]

03:23 AM on 12/14/2011

And America's attention span isn't enough to sustain it.

[jflorish]

11:59 AM on 10/28/2011

Everything loses interest as time goes on, I rarely read the articles anymore but used to alot when it first started.

[psychodog]

01:20 AM on 10/28/2011

My hunch is that the television newscasts finally started covering OWS with more depth on or around October 11th. People didn't have to search as often because they were getting up-to-date information on the evening news.

[John Pierce]

06:38 PM on 10/27/2011

Possibly a more relevant analytic for our intrepid author to track would be searches for the basis of the OWS protests which are becoming increasingly apparent.

[ThinkCreeps]

06:28 PM on 10/27/2011

You say "Homeland security expert". I say "rightwing noseypoker".

[ThinkCreeps]

07:27 PM on 10/27/2011

Sentient humans can remember what they saw when they searched the first time.

[PDS Tornado Watch]

04:03 PM on 10/27/2011

This could be a sign of corporate censorship. After all, Google IS a major super-corporation.

[Mlark]

01:54 AM on 12/14/2011

Nope... Probably not.

[Ginzu Mawa]

02:32 PM on 10/27/2011

"the data provided by a Google Trends analysis is starkly different from the scientific approach"

"Google admits that the data is not scientific and subject to inaccuracies"

Hows this for a Google news story (hint: bribery):

Top contributers to Barak Obama

Google Inc, $814540

As a coalition led by Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) presses for a tax holiday on more than $1 trillion in offshore profits, it is turning to a well-positioned lobbyist: Jeffrey Forbes, once chief of staff to Max Baucus, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee.

[Ralphiec88]

09:25 PM on 10/27/2011

Having found connections like this, you're ready to intern for Glen Beck.

[Ginzu Mawa]

07:26 PM on 10/28/2011

Thanks! Here are my sources.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/google-joins-apple-mobilizing-lobbyists-to-push-for-tax-holiday-on-profits.html

http://www.opensecrets.org/

Google is not a neutral party.

[Maruka Tao]

02:19 PM on 10/27/2011

i choose not to use the Google, (i love ixquick)...and besides I have all my occupy sites memorized now. Hardly a metric, nice try tho, NOT

[whirlybird]

01:59 PM on 10/27/2011

Maybe we've already found what we are looking for and we know longer need to Google. Ever.

[Anonymous85635]

01:29 PM on 10/27/2011

Google searches for the specific words occupy wall street are no indicator.

[jhNY]

01:17 PM on 10/27/2011

"If the number of Google searches is any indication"..., yes, if. Are they?

[eva07]

02:30 PM on 10/27/2011

No, you can follow what happens in detail on FB, HP, newspapers, whatever your choice is. No reason to google it..

[Topaz4608]

11:23 AM on 10/27/2011

What a bunch of BS!! I was looking for the wounded soldier in Oakland, and this came up. Propaganda.