I don’t have a link to it but years back an SEO pro wrote an article about the power of Google. It was a Big Brother kinda thing where the GOOG has taken ever increasing control of our data and information usage and therefore control of our lives. It was wildly popular at the time and the inspiration for some great conversation on the ever increasing power of Google and the endless possibilities a company like them had in the future where it was obvious to many of us that the net would rule.
I’ve watched the company grow since I got serious about online business back in 2000. I actually applied for a job with them way back in 2002 I think it was. I tried to latch onto what I saw as the hottest company online. I failed to get a job with them but I have been a search marketer ever since. Now it seems everyone can see the size and reach of Google and pretty much the whole world is watching them. They’ve added a lot of new services and done some pretty cool things over the last few years. Services like Google Earth and Maps are wicked cool and they make the world a smaller place for all of us.
I think their newest service Google Flu Trends is the beginning of the new generation of web data and information sharing. I think Flu trends taps into the real power of Google with real time data mining and interpretation which they now use to determine trends in flu related searches and can use to predict an outbreak before the CDC just by search usage.
As the number one destination for online searches and a commanding 80% market share they are uniquely positioned to monitor the pulse of the web. The potential uses for this type of data mining are limited by the mind and imagination. Flu trends are the tip of the iceberg. I bet big money is on other trends such as fashion or technology but think of the political potential and it gets spooky.
Have you ever really though about how much they know about those of us with the Google Toolbar installed?
Google tool uses search terms to detect flu outbreaks - CNN.com
If you have a fever, headache and runny nose, you might go to Google and type the words “flu symptoms” to see whether you’ve come down with influenza.
Google knows that you might do something like that, and it also knows which U.S. state you’re in. Now, it’s putting that information together in a tool that Google says could detect flu outbreaks faster than traditional systems currently in use.
Google’s new public health initiative, Google Flu Trends, looks at the relative popularity of a slew of flu-related search terms to determine where in the U.S. flu outbreaks may be occurring.
“What’s exciting about Flu Trends is that it lets anybody — epidemiologists, health officials, moms with sick children — learn about the current flu activity level in their own state based on data that’s coming in this week,” said Jeremy Ginsberg, the lead engineer who developed the site.
The tool, which launched Tuesday, operates on the idea that there’s likely to be a flu outbreak in states where flu-related search terms are currently popular. Video Watch CNN.com’s Elizabeth Landau explain how Google Flu Trends works »
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaborated with Google on the project, helping validate and refine the model, and has provided flu tracking data over a five-year period, said Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch in the CDC’s influenza division.
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