Click
Online insights from Bill Tancer
Bill Tancer is the general manager of global research at Hitwise and a weekly columnist for Time Magazine.
For information on Bill's upcoming book "Click", visit the following booksellers: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, or BookSense.
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What Are We Afraid Of?
July 07, 2008 6:12 PM
Our use of search engines continues to evolve, from their initial use as a method to find a forgotten web address, factoid or product to more personal and introspective queries. One of the things we've noticed in Hitwise data is the increasing frequency of searches on our fears.
Search queries change continuously throughout the year. Here are the latest top Internet queries containing "fear of":
1. Fear of flying
2. Fear of heights
3. Fear of communism
4. Fear of intimacy
5. Fear of clowns
6. Fear of dying
7. Fear of commitment
8. Fear of darkness
9. Fear of death
10. Fear of germs
The #3 query, "fear of Communism" is one that we have seen in the top ten previously. Could the rise in this search be due to the increased attention to politics with the upcoming election, geopolitical turmoil or perhaps retrospection of past Cold-War fears?
Read more about the fears we type into search engines by clicking here.
July 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (4)
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One can say: Abcnews loves this man, and this man is persistent! I hope his book sells, though I wouldnt buy it...
Posted by: Juan | Jul 7, 2008 10:14:48 PM
For that number one on your list, fear of flying, the video at http://www.fearofflying.com/video_hs.shtml explains it all.
Posted by: Capt Tom Bunn LCSW | Jul 8, 2008 11:10:23 AM
what about fear of rising gas prices? how does that rank?
Posted by: Daisy Whitney | Jul 8, 2008 12:07:17 PM
Daisy Whitney - I KNOW RIGHT WHERE IS THAT ONE? THE FEAR OF FORCLOSURE, THE FEAR OF RISING GAS PRICES, THE FEAR OF ANOTHER BAD PRESIDENT!
Posted by: Lockean Thinker | Jul 9, 2008 10:20:59 AM
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