The day February 22 one of the most searched questions at Google in Ukraine was “how to make a wish on 02.22.2022”. Two days later the war broke out and since then its citizens have not stopped asking the search engine when the conflict will end. This is how he picks it up google trend historywhich shows that the citizens of Ukraine are very concerned about the conflict, Eurovision and the carnival.
What have Ukrainians been asking each day since the conflict began?
Eurovision matters, and a lot, to the Ukrainians. This is demonstrated by the trends in Google. From on February 22 and until March 2 the question “Who will win Eurovision 2022” has been one of the most searched on Google. In fact, the festival has been one of the leading elements of the conflict. So much so that on February 25 The Executive Board of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) banned Russia from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest.
It was not the only doubt that the citizens of the invaded town have raised to Google. In the following interactive timeline you can check what questions Ukrainians have asked the search engine every day since the conflict began.
Analysis methodology
At the same time, some keywords related to the conflict have also experienced an increase in Google searches. From laSexta the evolution of some of them has been analyzed to observe the moment in which the citizens of these countries at war began to be interested in these issues: War, Putin, Bunker, Kiev and Zelensky. After choosing the five keywords with which this study has been developed, and since the population in Ukraine is bilingualit has been decided to analyze the translation of these words into Ukrainian, a language that speaks 70% of the population, and Russian (30%). Searches in these territories in English have also been collected to take into account foreign users who live there.
The tool used for this analysis is Google Trendsan instrument thatl Google itself provides to visualize word search trends key or themes. In a simple way, what this application does is show how many people search for a term in Google. Of course, instead of offering the total number, what it returns is an amount that goes between 0 and 100 that indicates the trend of whether something has many searches or few. For some data, the extension of Google Chrome Glimpsewhich aggregates search volumes in Google Trends.
The use of this application is very simple, you just have to include up to a maximum of 5 words: These must have enough search volume for Google to return information about their trend, so we need to enter keywords that are as generic as possible.
Once the keywords have been entered, we must select the country from which you are searching, in our case we have analyzed searches from Russia and Ukraine, and the desired period of time (February 10 to March 3, in this case). In this way what we get is the information about whether something is being searched for a lot or a little (trend)when is looking for (temporary) and related topics about the entered keyword that are arousing interest (growth trends).
For this analysis we have chosen the words War, Putin, Bunker, Kiev and Zelensky. These do not have to be the ones with the highest volume of searches on the days analyzed, but rather they represent topics closely related to the events that are happening in Ukraine and, therefore, they were expected to have a high search volume.
Another point to keep in mind is that in Russia and Ukraine Internet search engine market share is divided between Google and the Russian public company Yandex. For this analysis we have focused solely on data obtained through queries in the Google search engine, which is the most used.
A few years ago, Google was mainly used by foreigners who were in Russia. However, this situation has changed. Now the market share has grown in favor of the company founded by Larry Page and Sergei Brin in Russian territorybecause most searches are already made from mobile devices and the American search engine It has its own Android operating system, which Google installs on mobile phones.
Searches from Ukraine
In Ukraine, the war has become the center of attention. Also in the focus of many Google searches. The reality is that this concept, in its translation into Ukrainian and English, has been significantly more ‘googled’ than the rest of the keywords chosen for this analysisas shown in the following graphs.
In fact, searches for this word skyrocketed to its maximum on February 24. It was in the early morning of that day when residents woke up to the sound of loud explosions, some explosions that sounded in Kiev, Berdyansk, Kramatorsk, Boryspil, Brovary, Gatny, Tarasivka and other cities. This was confirmed by the adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko: “Missile strikes have been carried out on various military facilities in Kiev, Kharkov and Dnipro, a Russian landing party has landed in Odessa, and Russian troops have crossed the border near Kharkov.”
War in Ukrainian (вiйна) has registered a total of 1.3 million searches In the last four weeks, a 270% increase over the previous month. However, if we look at the trend of the word war in Russian, the peak is picked up two days later: on February 26, when Russian troops advanced through Kiev. That day, images of the Russian missile colliding with an apartment building west of the capital were collected.
Searches from Russia on Google
The Russian citizens have also taken an interest in the war. In fact, this term ranks first in the ranking of keywords related to the conflict, despite the fact that the Russian media is prohibited from using the word war. If they do, they are penalized with fines or threats about a possible closure of the medium. Instead, journalists have to use the concept of “special military operation”.
Despite this, Russian citizens have indeed searched for the word on Google to find out. In fact, the day of the start of the conflict, February 24, It was the day that this term was searched for the most in the invading country.
That same day too reached a peak of searches your leader,Putin. He also did it on February 21, the date on which Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian Armed Forces to enter Donetsk and Lugansk, the separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, self-proclaimed people’s republics in 2014 with the support of Moscow. Four days later it was the name of the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, which registered the most of him in Russia. February 25 was the day the explosions reached the capital. A day earlier the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
What was Ukraine looking for the day the conflict began?
The day that Russian troops entered the territory of the Ukrainian capital, February 24, the name of the Russian leader registered its second peak of searches. Also significant is the fact that the leader’s name is searched more in Ukraine in Russian than in Ukrainian, as can be seen in the graph. Thus, the The word Путин has been searched 416,000 times in the last four weeks486% more than in the previous month.
The first time the leader’s name was searched for on a massive scale was on February 21. It should be remembered that on that day Putin ordered the entry of Russian troops into Donetsk and Lugansk. Six days later, the third peak of Putin’s name in English and Russian was reached: on February 27, when The European Union announced that it will allocate 400 million euros to send weapons to Ukraine.
One day later, the citizens of Ukraine searched more than ever for the word bunker, which in Russian and Ukrainian are spelled the same. It was on that day of Monday (February 28) when Russia attacked with missiles some residential neighborhoods of the Ukrainian city of Kharkov, about 35 kilometers from the border with Russia. Dozens of people died and hundreds were injured in the attack. Specifically, the term bunker written in English registered its maximum on the day the contest began. What’s more, has been ‘googled’ 37,000 times in the last month83% more than in the previous four weeks.
Precisely from a bunker, the president of Ukraine gave his last interview, Volodymyr Zelensky. The day that more interest aroused in Ukraine the political leader was on February 27. On this date it was announced that the Ukrainian president had agreed to send a delegation from his country to the border between Ukraine and Belarus. to negotiate with the Russian side the cessation of Putin’s offensive, as well as the end of hostilities. The surname of the President of Ukraine has been searched 736,000 times in the last four weeks in your countryan increase of 109% compared to the previous month. In English (Zelenski), it has been ‘googled’ 398,000 times, 129% more than the previous month.
The capital of the invaded country, Kiev, has been significantly more searched in Russian (Киев) than in Ukrainian (Киïв). Thus, the February 25 was the day that was searched for the most times this term, coinciding with the day on which the Russian army intensified the attack on the capital.
What does follow a uniform trend is the search for the great unknown: When will the war in Ukraine end? Something that the citizens of the invaded country ask Google daily.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
