The High Five: what people searched for this week
Amidst allegations against prominent men in media, people were abuzz about a royal engagement and feeling generous on Giving Tuesday. Here are a few of the top search trends this week:
Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor
People are searching for media personalities Matt Lauer and Garrison Keillor this week, following their firings due to allegations of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. People searched to find out more about Lauer and Keillor’s accusers, and details about the complaints. Following the news, search interest in Lauer’s former “Today Show” co-host Katie Couric went up 1,700 percent and interest in current co-host Savannah Guthrie went up nearly 500 percent.
I now pronounce you prince and princess
Prince Harry is officially off the market, now engaged to American actress Meghan Markle. In the U.S., people are wondering how it all started—the top searched question about the engagement was “Who introduced Prince Harry to Meghan?” But people in the U.K. are looking ahead to wedding day, searching to find out “Will we get a day off when Prince Harry gets married?” And everyone wants to know how much Markle’s ring will sparkle—this week’s “engagement ring” searches were all related to to Harry’s bride-to-be.
Give a little bit
Last week was all about eating, and this week was all about giving. People searched for organizations to donate to this Giving Tuesday—the top searched philanthropic organizations were Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill and Salvation Army. Other top questions about charity and philanthropy were “where to donate clothes,” “how to start a nonprofit” and “how to start a GoFundMe page.”
Sneeze season
Early estimates show that Australia's flu vaccine was only 10 percent effective at preventing the this year’s strain of the virus, leading to searches in the U.S. like “How effective is the 2017 flu vaccine?” and “What are the ingredients in a flu shot?” Earlier this week, “flu shot” was searched 220 percent more than “flu symptoms,” as some people are still looking to get a shot—another top search was “How much is the flu shot at CVS?” Top regions searching for influenza vaccine were Connecticut, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Heads or tails?
Search interest in “bitcoin” reached an all-time high in the U.S. this week, as prices peaked. But questions remain about this cryptic cryptocurrency—top searches were “What is bitcoin?” “How to buy Bitcoin” and “How to invest in Bitcoin.” Other than bitcoin, top searched cryptocurrencies were Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.
