Jennifer Dittrich,
AndreaR,
Victor Ganata,
Stephen Mack,
Laura Norvig,
Stephan Planken,
Sean McBride,
Big Joe Silenced,
Jenny H.,
Maitani,
imabonehead,
and
Joe
liked this
I would "like" it but, as is typical with Google Trends, the total lack of a vertical scale means that we don't know whether "interest" dropped from "so little as to be not worth mentioning" to "even less" or something more interesting.
- walt crawford
100 = its peak search value. 29 is 29% of peak.
- Louis Gray
See also: Bitcoin: http://www.google.com/trends...
- Louis Gray
Louis: Well, sure, I can interpret from the graph that the current value is around one-third of the peak--but the peak doesn't *mean* anything, even if you label it "100." (Heck, you could just as easily label it 1,000,000: it would be precisely as meaningful.)
- walt crawford
See, to me the concept that "interest has dropped 70% from its peak four weeks ago" is a meaningful stat in and of itself. I understand both sides (people wanting to know how many total searches there were, and Google not wanting to share that proprietary information) but I think all Amit was trying to get across with his post is that there is data to back the impression some of us have discussed here that interest is waning.
- Stephen Mack
But if at the peak, interest was infinitesimal, what does it really mean that it dropped 70%? It doesn't seem like it would be statistically meaningful if that were the case.
- Victor Ganata
Thank you, Victor. That's what I'm trying to say. It's like sales of ebooks going up 200% from one year to another when sales were $100 in the first year (a mythical example)--just having the numbers (Exploding sales! Up 200%!) doesn't mean very much, statistically or otherwise.
- walt crawford
I understood that point when Walt first stated it. But Google is intentionally not populating the scale, presumably to keep the data proprietary. In this case, we know there was a flurry of interest in Ello, and we know it dropped. The scale doesn't need to be filled in for Amit's post to prove a point and to be interesting.
- Stephen Mack
Oh, I agree it may be of interest, but I'm not certain it's meaningful. Without the absolute numbers, I really think it's impossible to interpret. #MoreStudyNeeded
- Victor Ganata
If I knew it was 50 searches per minute, what would I conclude differently? What does 50 mean?
- Amit Patel
You're right, even the absolute number isn't much context. Ideally, it would be in comparison with other dominant trends.
- Victor Ganata
Looks like I got the URL wrong for being able to compare with other words and phrases. Try http://www.google.com/trends...
- Amit Patel
Ello vs. Ebola: http://www.google.com/trends...
- Stephen Mack
The comparative trends graph is at least somewhat meaningful; thanks, Stephen.
- walt crawford
Amit deserves the thanks!
- Stephen Mack
Thanks Amit, then.
- walt crawford
LOL. Ello: even less popular than Ebola. #justkidding
- Victor Ganata