The Innovation Diariesgoogle | The Innovation Diaries http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com Towards a Solutions Oriented Society Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:16:49 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 When Google Sneezes, The Internet Learns About The Flu http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/28/when-google-sneezes-the-internet-learns-about-the-flu/ http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/28/when-google-sneezes-the-internet-learns-about-the-flu/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:34:04 +0000 Innovation Staff http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/?p=28 As we fight off our colds and stock up on Berocca, we’re loving that Google wants to look after us to – they have announced that they can predict flu outbreaks up to two weeks before the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC), by analysing where people are searching about flu symptoms. Currently the CDC relies on doctors to report individual cases before it is able to identify outbreaks. Google’s technology could well prove invaluable in the fight against new viral diseases like bird flu, which can spread through the public far more quickly than the CDC can currently keep up with. Flu trends is just one example of the information that google can extract just by analysing search terms.

Some trendwatchers predicted the outcome of the US election simply by analysing search terms. Like Peter Norvig, Google’s research director, said last year – “All models are wrong, and increasingly you can succeed without them.”

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