11 November 2008

Google Flu Trends

In the weeks leading up to the November 4th elections, one frequent read was FiveThirtyEight, the election prediction site. A few articles have appeared there in the week since the election—most on the uncalled Senate races in Alaska, Georgia, and Minnesota. While understandable, its not quite enough to fill the need for data tracking I’ve developed.

A possible replacement is Flu Trends, an attempt by Google to track the spread of influenza by analyzing search queries. The results from a limited test last year suggest health officials might have a jump of up to two weeks ahead on data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control, which gathers its data out of reports from hospitals and medical centers.

Though not quite as exciting as following the elections—there are undoubtedly few people who would like to see influenza win—it is certainly an exciting use of technology.