Seeing Sri Lanka Through ‘Google Trends’ In 2020

By Tharosa M. Rajaratne and Dr. Nalin S. Gama-Arachchige –JANUARY 30, 2021

Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic evolved into becoming the chief governing factor behind all human activities worldwide during the year 2020. This unanticipated turn of events ultimately instigated a paradigm shift in the social sphere to what is known as the ‘new normal’. From an ideal standpoint, it is evident that this new normal will remain as is in the foreseeable future. At present, Sri Lanka is facing the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic, with a total case count exceeding 60,000; becoming the 139th out of 211 countries and territories, in terms of cases per million citizens. The ‘new normal’ is characterized by adaptations and setbacks of citizens. Thus this article intends to analyze the social reflexes of Sri Lanka, shown in to various sociological aspects, by means of Google Search Trends during the first year under the COVID19 pandemic.

Google is the search engine of most electronic devices by default, and also the most preferred among the internet users of Sri Lanka. The Google search data encompass the search queries requested on YouTube, Google Images, and Google News. Since all the search queries are recorded based on location, frequency, and time, the relationship between contemporary world events and their corresponding social reflexes can be built along a timeline, i.e. trends, in this case, during the year 2020. The internet certainly plays an active role in the new normal situation essentially to comply with the novel social etiquettes. The Google Search trends related to Social awareness, Healthcare, Economy, Self-care, and Education sectors provide a useful insight into investigation of the social behavior with COVID-19.

Awareness and Healthcare

A considerable cohort of internet users accesses the internet for awareness purposes. This includes the recurrent use of the Google Search Engine to follow news updates on isolated or ongoing incidents. The search terms Coronavirus and COVID and their immediate word derivatives elucidate valuable information concerning the initial reaction to the pandemic. The following figure presents evidence of the relative search interest of the Sri Lankan citizens of the terms Corona, Coronavirus, and COVID.

Figure 1 – Relative Search Interest of the terms Coronavirus, Corona, and COVID

According to Figure-1, several surges in the Google search volume can be seen along the timeline, notably following major outbreak incidents that took place in January, March, July, and October 2020: the first Positive Case within Sri Lanka, First Wave, Lockdown, Kandakāḍu Outbreak, and Second Wave, respectively. The overall popularity and the concern regarding the pandemic had reached its peak during the 50-day lockdown, followed by a rapid decline until the outset of the second wave in October. The official designation of the disease (i.e. COVID19) was not present until 22nd February 2020, and this void has been adequate for the generic term Coronavirus to be consolidated within the urban dialect until the start of the second wave. Despite the concern and the popularity regarding the pandemic has shifted away from the spotlight at present, the trends suggest that more internet users now use the word COVID over the generic term Coronavirus. Search volumes of the most prevalent locations related to the pandemic, coincide with each major outbreak incident stated above: China, Italy, Kandakāḍu, and Brandix respectively. The concern about the disease from a geographical standpoint also shows a similar declining trend.

Search requests relating to death (mortality), and symptoms have also surged similarly. Figure-2 evidences the much-anticipated surge of search requests due to the novelty of the situation during the first wave. Although the majority of COVID19 attributed deaths took place during the second wave, the popularity concerning mortality-related search requests crowned in late March, after the very first COVID19 attributed death recorded in Sri Lanka on 28th March. The interest then plummeted down to pre-first-wave levels by as early as June and it continued to maintain a fair plateau to this day. In contrast, the general interest around the search term Symptoms remains at a higher level during the same period, and also a noticeable increase is seen during the second wave in contrast to the search terms related to mortality. Fair reasoning can be built as to the civilians who have started to maintain a resilient stance towards the pandemic while raising their self-awareness about the disease, or have moved past the imminent dangers of the pandemic in a rather negligent manner. Apart from the aforementioned examples, notable terms such as Quarantine, Lockdown, and Hand sanitizer have followed a similar trend to that of Death, whereas the terms Face masks and Curfew have followed a similar trend to that of Symptoms.

Figure 2 – Relative Search Interest of the terms Death, and Symptoms

Economy

The escalation of the online grocery shopping and delivery and a considerable shift from conventional shopping behavior was much predicted by the turn of the pandemic, as many countries encouraged the citizens to shift to buying online. However, Google Trends and actual evidence regarding this matter demonstrate that Sri Lanka has shown a very repulsive stance. The search interest around online grocery shopping and delivery services only began to skyrocket with the very onset of the lockdown and completely vanished by the end of the lockdown. The reason for this particular behavior can be explained by the unsatisfactory customer experiences (such as packaging defective products and expensive substitutes against customers’ consent, and hidden charges etc.) and the lack of proper technical infrastructure (such as reliable and responsive hotlines, websites, and mobile apps), that were seen throughout the online shopping. Hence, online shopping was only perceived as a survival stunt but not as a sustainable alternative, and it sufficiently reinforced the customers’ necessity of resorting to the conventional ‘visiting and buying yourself’ shopping methods at the earliest. 

The concern regarding telecommunication and internet services (specifically data packages and free data) during the lockdown period, has recorded an all-time-high within a five-year window, likely as a response to the increased data consumption among individuals to access various online services during the lockdown.

It is no revelation that the lockdown period created an unavoidable financial turmoil that led to reduced liquidity, increased bankruptcy and unemployment. The search trends and evidence relating to Bank Loans, Interest Rates, and Fixed Deposits reveal that individuals have pursued financial assistance and aid, to re-stabilize their economic state after the lockdown period. Similarly, the search trends around Real Estate sales have also surged in the same period, indicating growth in reinvestment schemes.

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