Marko Hurst

First there was Microsoft. Then came Yahoo! to dominate. And then came along (and still is) Google to topple them both. Yes, all three have taken a shot at world domination and one looks like it might win,, but I digress. So, with world domination in mind who out there ever knew the “lighter side” of Google? Yes, Google has (and always did) have a kind side. It just isn’t widely known. In fact a show of hands… “Who knew that Google has a philanthropic division”? Not many of you, but it can be found at Google.org. Anyway, so what is this division up to these days, quite a bit, but since it’s winter out there I thought I would talk specifically about Google, the flu, and analytics. So what does Google, the flu, and analytics have in common you might ask? Well Google utilizes and tracks searches for the flu via queries in Google’s search engine to help track, predict, and ultimately prevent flu outbreaks before they happen, and quite possibly before health organizations such as the CDC )Center for Disease Control) become aware of it themselves. So, being winter time there is plenty of activity to check out and their data visualization isn’t too shabby either. In addition, they also have a video that demonstrates how it works.