Myles' Data Journalism Blog

Google Trends: Area 51 Trumps President in polls, Ranking Popular Social Media Networks

Facebook is still Top Dog

Since the launch of the social networking site Facebook in 2004, the company has continuously looked to set the standard for every other social media site in terms of innovation, popularity, and ease of use. However, after it was revealed that Facebook had been selling it’s user’s data, some users lost trust in the platform and decided to delete their profile in favor of other social media platforms. According to Google trends, while Facebook is not at peak popularity currently, it is still far and away the most searched social media platform on Google. Instagram comes in at a distant second, with Twitter trailing behind. What this figure shows is despite the trust most users would admit they lost on Facebook, people still seem to be the most likely and willing to use it (and Instagram which is also owned by Facebook). Facebook likely holds the lead due to it being the oldest social networking site, and also the variety of activities that are available for Facebook users (e.x games, fan pages, the messenger app, and event pages).

This figure also shows that interest in Snapchat has begun to fall below TikTok, which is a relatively new social media platform that has begun to gather some popularity. Snapchat was once thought to be the next big social media platform but interest in them seemed to hit a plateau and began to shrink after competitors released similar features such as Instagram Stories and Facebook Stories.

With the trends displayed above a conclusion can be made that Facebook is a long way away from being overtaken by any of its competitors in terms of interest. Although the interest is showing a steady decline from its peak popularity in early July (which may have something to do with the other trend discussed on this page) the gap between Facebook and 2nd place Instagram is so high it’s hard to imagine Instagram catching Facebook any time soon.

Area 51 raid shows Power of the Meme

Area 51 is not normally a hot topic of conversation for many American citizens but that all seemed to change due to a sudden spike of interest in the location between July 11-13th 2019. What was the reason for this sudden spike in interest in a relatively secluded location? Actually, it was none other than a random Facebook event that turned into a gigantic internet meme. The event titled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” was created in an attempt to gather people to raid Area 51 in search of extraterrestrial life. The event seemed to blow up overnight, and at one time had over 2 million people who responded they were going, and 1.5 million interested in the event’s page. It had become the newest internet meme. The Facebook event took place on September 20th, 2019, which explains the sudden increase in area 51 again at the end of the trend graph.

From the trend graph above the conclusion can be drawn that the power of internet jokes and memes may be at the highest it’s ever been. This meme in particular even saw more general interest than the current President of the United States during its times at peak popularity.

My First Blog Post

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
What topics do you think you’ll write about?
Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.