Google Trends: Unraveling the truth

Lies in Surveys

Google trends is a useful tool that helps us understand who we really are. I am currently reading a book: ‘Everybody Lies’ by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. In this book, the author discusses about how many people lie, especially in surveys - even if they are anonymous. This is because they have no incentive of telling the truth. Instead of telling the truth, they would lie to make themselves seem better. They would exaggerate how much they exercise; they wouldn’t admit that they are single; they would inflate the number of times they have sex in a year. People would lie about anything as, again, they gain no benefit from telling the truth in surveys. This makes it hard to understand people.

How Google Trends Unravels The Truth

However, google trends is here to save the day! In google trends, you can type a random search and see how many people are searching it. Using this resource, Seth conducted research and found out that google trends reveals a lot of information about us. This is because people would just type out their thoughts onto google, like: ‘Why am I so fat?’ or ‘How can I make more friends?’ People want to get answers, and so they have an incentive of getting out their thoughts onto google, whatever they may be.

Thus, while surveys may not provide accurate data and may not be the best source of information about people, google trends can come in handy to understand the truth.

Do People Always Lie in Surveys

Brief note: It is important to know that people, most times, only lie when asked sensitive questions. If questions in a survey are not personal, then it will likely produce accurate results.

If you are interested in this, and would like to know more, you can check out the book: ‘Everybody Lies’ by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. I can assure you that it’s a good read! Also, here’s the link to Google Trends if you would like to use it yourself.