Internet Search Behavior in Times of COVID-19 Lockdown and Opening

Internet Search Behavior in Times of COVID-19 Lockdown and Opening

Mascha Kurpicz-Briki, Christoph Glauser, Loris Schmid
Copyright: © 2023 |Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9220-5.ch029
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Abstract

In this work, the authors study the search behavior and search volume on the internet of the Swiss population during the COVID-19 lockdown and in particular during the application of the step-wise exit plan of the Swiss Government after the first wave in 2020. The investigation concentrates on the general topics of interest, the sentimental state reflected in online searches and keywords related to active search patterns about the steps of the exit plan. The authors investigate how the interest in COVID-19 evolves over time, and how specific social and community topics are searched differently during lockdown and during the step-wise opening phase. Whereas the results were partially as the authors expected, others were surprising. They also found indication for cultural differences in online search behavior. The work shows how digital tools can be used to feel the sentiment of an entire population, especially interesting in crisis times such as a global pandemic.
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Materials And Methods

Research Questions

In this study, the following three research questions have been addressed:

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    How does the interest in Corona/COVID-19 evolve over time and what wording is used?

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    How does online search for social and community topics evolve during the lockdown and during the implementation of the exit plan?

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    How do the measures announced by the exit plan influence the online search for specific facilities?

Each research question was identified by specific keywords in German and French which have been monitored continuously while the lockdown was still on, and first exit plans have been announced by the Swiss public administration. The extracted data shows how often these keywords have been searched for and how this number varies over time, without revealing a single user’s identity at any point. It therefore allows to draw conclusions about the whole Swiss population’s online search behavior during and after COVID-19 lockdown. It also draws the big picture on how the topics of these days have been understood, adapted and even actively taken up by most of the Swiss internet users. Around 65% of the Swiss population have German as their primary language, whereas 23% speak French as first language.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Search Engine: Online service to allow keyword search on the internet to find relevant websites.

Corona Crisis: Worldwide pandemic crisis starting in 2020 with the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

Search Data: Data about keywords and topics that have been searched in online search engines.

World Health Organization (WHO): Specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) dealing with public health.

Online Population: Part of a country’s population using online services such as e-mail, search, social media, or others.

Big Data: The large amount of data that is being generated and needs to be processed by new digital tools and technologies.

Application Programming Interface (API): A set of features that allows an automated access of an application or service.

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