In this second report on rank charts analysis, we focus on the queries related to the keyword “How to”, whose searches increased with the advent of COVID-19 epidemic. The plots below will provide an indicative picture about what people focused their interrogations on, particularly during the lockdown period.
Among the highest ranked interrogations, these are the most searched subjects:
Virus-prevention remedies, mainly “Masks” and “Hand sanitizer”. These two topics, in particular, started or reached their peak of interest in coincidence with each national lockdown week (as a reference: Italy, March 9th; France, March 17th ; Spain, March 14th; Germany, March 9th-23rd; Austria, March 16th; Ireland, March 12th; Australia, 13th March; the UK, March 23rd; some states of the US, March 19th-24th).
There are several terms related to food ingredients and recipes, in the weeks under analysis. During the lockdown, however, we see the queries focused on bakery products, such as “Bread”, “Yeast” or “Pizza”. We reason these searches are a consequence of the increased amount of time that can be spent cooking, plus the lack of their availability in the stores. Moreover, these products are a basic form of comfort food, thus an ideal outlet of stress in critical times. This hypothesis is supported by the search patterns in countries such as Germany and Ireland: in the first country, we see a shift from elaborate, international or healthy food (“Hummus”, “Oatmeal”, “Sushi”) to simpler and comforting meals (“Pizza”, “Burger”, “Pizzateig”, “Brotchen”); in the second, “How to” related searches emerged during the lockdown and targeted “Scones”, “Pancakes”, “French toast”, and “Banana bread”, among others. As a final remark, it is worth recalling that food is also the expression of local habits and culture, in fact several queries reflects national cuisines. Remarkably, the extensive variety and interest in food observed in Spain is not found in any other country.
“How to lose weight” is a common query, particularly in the English speaking countries, and was not largely impacted by the lockdown.
Indicative of increased need for remote communication during the quarantine, rank charts show an increased interest for queries related to video calls and screenshots such as: “Videollamada” and “Captura pantalla” (Spain), “Screenshot” (Italy), “Record screen” (US), “Use zoom” (UK, US and Australia), “Facetime” (Australia). In the non-English countries, the difference from before to after the lockdown is more pronounced, as opposed to the UK and the US where “How to make screenshot” remained highly ranked.
At the begin of the lockdown, some job-related queries decreases such as “Cv” (France and US), “Curriculum” (Spain), “Lettre de motivation” (France), “Tie a tie” (Australia, “Nodo cravatta” in Italy). Likely, resorting to smart-working promoted queries on remote communication (previous point);
Some interrogation appear during the crisis about “How to” carry out governmental certificates and/or benefits such as: “Domanda 600 euro” and “Autocertificazione” in Italy; “Claim ssp”, “Apply for universal credit” and “Claim 80 percent wages” in the UK; “Apply for centrelink” in Australia; “Get stimulus check” in the US.
As Ramadan begun during the lockdown period, countries with a significant Muslim population, such as France and the UK, searched for “How to” pray (“Prier” and “Pray Taraweeh”), and for purification rites (“Ablution” and “Do Wudu”).
The plots evidence the widespread popularity of “Slime” (“Schleim” in German) which was overshadowed only at the begin of the lockdown period.
Indeed, even in relation to the keyword “How to”, among the weekly top 20 searches pre-lockdown, we stumbled upon the surprising related queries that follows:
Meanwhile, during the lockdown hard times were in France for those who searched “Comment farie caca” (“How to poo”).