Usage of the giant search engine company's name as a verb is nothing new, and a continuing testament to its crushing domination of market share for the U.S. and the world. Nearly 90 percent of all searches online originate in that familiar Google bar at the top of a desktop or mobile screen.
Trivia tidbit: Google was not a word at all until 1997, when it was created based on a misspelling of the mathematical term "googol," which is a 1 followed by 100 zeroes.
There is meaningful information to be gleaned from what people are searching with regard to needs or desires about a multitude of interests, lifestyles and activities.
Because everything--and for younger readers particularly, this warrants repeating with emphasis, everything--on the Internet is tracked, measured and recorded, Google amasses amazing amounts of information on what people are searching for at any given moment and over time.
Each December, those data are tabulated into trending totals and published as the "Year in Search," with lists of the top searches in several different categories.
The 2019 report is especially insightful, given the political goings-on in Washington. News coverage of congressional investigations and the House's ultimate impeachment of President Donald Trump is over-saturated by any measure.
Yet to read the top 10 Google searches in the News category, you'd never know any of it was happening.
Not only are the president, Congress and the Supreme Court completely absent, but just one of the 10 has anything to do with Washington or politics at all. "Government shutdown" comes in at eighth on the list, which is dominated by tragic events like "Hurricane Dorian" (1), "Notre Dame Cathedral" (2), "El Paso shooting" (6) and "California earthquake" (10).
There's also not a politician or government leader among the top 10 searches for People (most are either entertainment- or scandal-related, or both).
Indeed, the highest-ranking reference to the nation's capital at all comes in the Professional Sports Scores category, where the Washington Nationals captured the top spot in their World Series Championship season.
Even in the broad question categories Google provides--"What is ...?" and "Where is ...?"--many of the top headline-generating subjects are reflected with the glaring exception of anything involving American partisan politics, save one oblique reference.
Using a Jeopardy-style approach, here are some of the top finishers in the "What is ...?" section.
A highly classified U.S. Air Force facility in Nevada. The most searched question was "What is Area 51?" (It also scored third in the location category, "Where is Area 51?")
An Internet hoax involving a viral game shared on messaging services that purportedly goaded children into violent or suicidal behavior. "What is momo?" (3).
A demographic cohort defined by the group of individuals born between 1946 and 1964. "What is a boomer?" (4).
A favor or advantage granted or expected in return for something. The sole American semi-political allusion in the list, "What is a quid pro quo?" at No. 5, suggests a sizable number of news watchers were unfamiliar with the Latin phrase used in arguments over the content and intent of the president's phone conversation with the Ukrainian president.
The on-demand, ad-free subscription streaming service from the entertainment company that brought the world Mickey Mouse. "What is Disney Plus?" (7) is the first of a sequential trio about TV, followed by "What is Bird Box about?" and "What is a Mandalorian?"
The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. "What is Brexit?" rounds out the final top 10 search slot, indicating Americans still pay some attention to our forebears' interests across the pond.
"Where is ...?" search questions tended to be more time- and event-sensitive, with queries like "Where is the Super Bowl this year?" (2), "Where is the hurricane now?" (5), "Where is Clemson football team from?" (7) and "Where is Gonzaga University located?" dominating the top 10.
Given the vast quantity of searches--estimated to be billions per day, executed by millions of people--fragmentation is a major factor when drawing conclusions based on only 10 search results in a handful of categories. Still, it seems extraordinary that so many things that garner "breaking news" attention also figure prominently in Google searches, but the supposedly seminal political event of our time doesn't figure at all.
Why people aren't searching "impeachment" or related terms could be because they're simply not interested, or they don't believe there's substance worth delving into, or they don't trust the information they would receive.
What we can tell is there's a disconnect between what Washington and its news media allies deem important and what normal people are using their fingers to seek information about.
The volume behind that disconnect is deceiving; loud, frenzied fringe voices can sound more representative than they really are. Perhaps that's partly why Democratic leaders wind up tripping over each other to grossly hyperbolize "high crimes" and champion radically narrow special-interest causes.
One thing's for sure: Google analytics don't lie. What 24/7 news headlines scream and what people are searching aren't remotely the same.
The party with the better vision for the mass majority's issues and concerns will fare best in 2020.
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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 12/27/2019