The first big distorted news of the week came to your feet… CHP Adıyaman Deputy Abdurrahman Tutdere and Cumhuriyet’s Mustafa Çakır shared the news, “The most searched phrases on Google in the last two years – foreign job postings – and – I want to commit suicide -” is about to go viral. … But there are serious problems with the news.
In recent years, and especially since the beginning of 2022, the increasing impact of the economic crisis has led many people to start a life abroad. In addition, as a more tragic result of this situation, across Turkey, It is stated that there is a livelihood problem on the basis of There are also cases of suicide.
However, it is seriously wrong to look at Google’s search data to measure these trends or to make sociological inferences from this data. Because Google, in the search data shared publicly through the Trends tool and valid for a certain time period. Doesn’t share the “most searched for” statistic.
It all started when Cumhuriyet Writer Mustafa Çakır reported on the interview he had with CHP Adıyaman Deputy Abdurrahman Tutdere:
“The desperation of the citizen was also reflected in the searches on the internet” The sentences in the article titled are actually quite clear. There is an increase in the searches made by citizens for “Overseas job postings” and “how can I commit suicide”. However, only this increase is mentioned in the news. In addition, this information is supported by the information shared by the Ministry of Interior that “1155 citizens committed suicide between 2015-2020”.
Google is said to have released search data from July 4, 2019 to July 4, 2021. Deputy Tutdere did not share information such as “these words were mostly searched”.As Mustafa Çakır also wrote, these are just “some of the words with the highest increase” is served as
However, as you can imagine, the “speed race in internet journalism” comes into play and this information is taken out of context and incorrectly appears on important websites:
It is not a surprise that the news is shared as “most searched” on many different websites, but the behavior of not giving this information as the original and turning it into a clickbait is surprising. Related sites Some of Turkey’s most popular publishers The situation becomes even more dire.
As a matter of fact, there are serious problems in the news: The rate of increase is said to be 5000 percent, but there is no information on what this increase is compared to:
The search “I want to sell my kidney” from Turkey, which has been on the agenda before, is underlined. In addition, it was stated that the increase in searches for “abroad job postings” and “how can I commit suicide” was 5,000%, as a matter of fact, under misleading headings both in the news in Cumhuriyet and in other sites. Compared to what time period did this increase occur? information is not shared.
So, are the searches for “abroad job postings” and “how can I commit suicide” really on the rise on Google? We look at the data – as anyone can:
NOTE: Google Trends measures search popularity out of 100 points, that is, it expresses frequency increase, not how many searches are done.
When we check the search graph in the given date range on Google Trends, which everyone can easily access, we cannot see such an increase. According to UberSuggest, a third-party service other than Google that shares this data “Overseas job postings” average 40,500 times a month, “how can I commit suicide” 1,600 times a month on average being searched.
Even if the mentioned 5000 percent increase is real, it is very difficult to make social psychological inferences from these data. If information is to be given about the tendency to go abroad, not only the information shared by the deputy, besides Google searches, but also to academic comments there is need.
If there is an increase in suicidality, attributing it to “economic hardships” just by looking at Google data and old news is a very limited point of view, just reasoning. Because in countries with higher welfare levels, such as Japan or Norway, the incidence of suicide is quite high. In summary, interpretation of trends is possible with academic support rather than current news. For a solution, not only political changes, but also cultural change is necessary quite clear and precise.
As a result, we were exposed to another unfounded statement and exit that went viral on social media.
When you stop for a moment and look away from the political view you have adopted and look at the picture in general, you can realize that such mistakes are made by politicians of almost every rank, administrators or related news sites.