Google: US Flu Activity Already Nearing Seasonal Peak

I remain fascinated what you can do with search data. You can truly read minds since how we search is becoming a direct reflection our society. 

Google has a site called Flu Trends where they use search data to assess how widespread the flu is in a few different regions of the world, as well as state by state in the US. I pulled up the US page this morning and was shocked by the activity. Even though it's early in the season, flu-related activity in the US is already nearing the seasonal peak point of prior years.

With companies, NGOs and governments partnering together for greater good, I hope Google is sharing this aggregate data to help officials make smarter decisions about how to keep us as healthy as possible. Fascinating stuff.

Comments

[Mike Anderson]

The problem with using search to map flu season is that it will show the amount of HYPE generated around flu instead of the amount of ACTUAL CASES. This year it seems that flu got a rebrand to be badder and tougher than ever—pig flu.I'm not sure that an ad agency could have done a better job of making it viral (no pun intended).

[William Todd]

Yes, fascinating use of search data. It is however hard to determine what is really happening with swine flu from this particular data set. It's important to discriminate. The real threat of swine flu lies in its specific mutative qualities which remain to be seen.

[Katrina Stonoff]

True, you can't tell from this site what is happening with swine flu.But you can tell how much people are thinking about it, and that's still useful information. Perhaps more useful to people involved in marketing and publicity.

[VictusFate]

Great minds think alike, or in my case sometimes I think like great minds ;). Great post Steve, many friends and myself are going through the flu as well here out east (Long Island NY).

[Steve Rubel]

@Victus hang in there. I don't live too far from you!