Head image ｜ People’s Daily Weibo
On the days when the new pneumonia continues to spread, users may start searching for “makeup lessons” from Baidu for “bats” and “fruit beavers” that they did not know or pay much attention to.
The authoritative data on the outbreak has been updated, affecting the nerves of hundreds of millions of people. As of 24:00 on January 23, a total of 830 confirmed cases of pneumonia due to new coronavirus infection have been reported.
Behind the trend of Baidu search index, users ’search for” new coronavirus “has surged. Just on January 21, the search index of the three major keywords of “new coronavirus + new pneumonia + Wuhan pneumonia” rose nearly 100 times from the previous daily average in two days. The “new coronavirus” search index increased by 3342% in the past 5 days.
At the same time, the once-encouraging red envelope activities and the Spring Festival movie files have all cooled down. The mask index has shown a geometric growth since January 20. Corresponding to the needs of offline protection, mask sales in recent days There has been a surge, with stockouts and price hikes appearing online and offline.
Behind the change in search popularity is also a mapping of the most real emotions and concerns of netizens. When the public clicks on a keyword search, it is not only a search for truth and exploration, but also a compensation for “information dislocation”: search terms for the people in Wuhan Analysis is often a powerful perception of the local epidemic situation. More importantly, the user’s active search has also given science and rumors a richer soil.
The search index behind the spread of the epidemic is a change in the social mood of the public
The reason why the public is anxious is also due to the human-to-human transmission of the virus. In addition, the epidemic is not like SARS. It is at a special time point-the Spring Festival migration, and the transmission is almost impossible.Controllable, it is difficult to capture the crowd trend from the source and lock the crowd. The change of the search index is a response to public psychology and needs in the epidemic.
But at present, both in the depth of science popularization and discussion, and the public’s awareness, there has been a great improvement in the past. This is undoubtedly due to the intensive spread and discussion of the epidemic by Internet media and social networks.
The current Baidu search index reflects the user’s active understanding of the new pneumonia epidemic. The self-protection needs of netizens have stimulated a large number of active searches. This aspect highlights the public’s Sensitivity, on the one hand, also reflects an attitude that the public no longer blindly listens to rumors and seeks truth, and seeks a more comprehensive interpretation of information.
Therefore, in this special environment where the whole nation is concerned about the protection of the epidemic, search engines have become an important tool for understanding rumors, popular science and in-depth information. We know that the keywords behind this active purposeful search reflect the public’s urgent need to defend against new pneumonia virus, public opinion, and viral science, and it is also a reflection of public opinion.
For example, the search index of search terms such as “84 disinfectant” and “how to use a thermometer” has been rising all the time. Wuhan is the most searched city. The “China Construction Third Bureau”, which is responsible for the establishment of “Wuhan Xiaotangshan”, has also become a popular search term in Wuhan.
On the one hand, these search data reflect that, compared with the nationwide enthusiasm for the cause of the epidemic and the spread of cities, Wuhan people are obviously more eager to find solutions. They are actively responding to and curbing the spread of the epidemic.
On the other hand, with the development of search engine technology and the increasing breadth and depth of platform content coverage, we can gain insight into a lot of information that could not be found before, and also bridge the dislocation of information.
So, at the time of this sudden epidemic situation, the social value of search will be revealed. If people make good use of the search engine, they will be multi-level, multi-dimensional Dimensions to search and dig deeper sources of information can be done to protect against epidemics earlier and to stay away from the source of virus infection.
Even in the current positioning and data display of local keyword search information in Wuhan, the special needs of local people for materials and medical care can still be reflected in Wuhan, and the outside world can seek out Wuhan’s demands through search. Provide necessary relief and assistance locally. For example, another high-frequency search term for people in Wuhan today is the “kit” used to confirm the diagnosis.
From today ’s Internet epidemic protection situation, two important channels have played an important role: WeChat WeiboSocial media has solved the topic fission problem of communication, making it easier for you to participate in topic discussions and responses with acquaintances, and search has solved the asymmetry of deep information, can better see the public opinion trend, and let people Outbreak protection and trends have earlier foresight.
The authoritative information’s timely review and transparent publication are necessary means for epidemic protection
Since the value of search engines in major virus security incidents is higher, the social responsibility of search engine platforms is also greater, because in the face of this major virus epidemic accident, people’s panic, worry and anxiety are largely reflected Among their own active search needs, people also hope that with the help of search engines, they will have a clear and transparent understanding of the transmission principle, source, transmission trend, and prevention and control methods of new coronaviruses.
From the perspective of media attributes, the search engine ’s orientation to information retrieval makes it naturally a mass media nature. It is said that Professor Louis Kim of the University of Washington and Shannon M. Fast, Natasha Markuzon and other scientists A study showed that when the number of media reports on certain diseases increased tenfold, the number of infections in such diseases decreased by 33.5%.
In this sense, the media may be an effective means of preventing the spread of disease. Media reports promote the discussion and attention of the whole nation, and public awareness of prevention will increase, and the spread of the disease will slow down.
Behind the skyrocketing of search terms related to “Wuhan Pneumonia”, Baidu with media attributes is also actively fighting against the core concerns of users and the demand for key information. The latest progress of the incident, expert interpretation, and prevention methods are fully displayed to users. Including its launch of the fight against pneumonia channel, users searching for “new pneumonia” and “new coronavirus” on Baidu can enter the Baidu aggregation page to understand comprehensive authoritative information and reports, and actively identify the “rumors” Dispel rumors.
At the same time, Baidu Map integrated the authoritative channels of provincial and municipal medical and health institutions to establish an “outbreak map.” On the other side, the “Fever Clinic Map” is available. Users can search for “Fever Clinic” on Baidu Map to view the nearby fever clinics. It also established a “National Popular Search” list based on the Internet users ’search for the epidemic situation. Changes in real time.
As for the search information related to Wuhan pneumonia, Baidu has also cooperated with the Beijing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to answer “prevention of new coronavirus infections”, such as the choice and wearing of masks that people are currently concerned about. Baidu has launched ” The doctor teaches you to wear a mask. ” The doctor of clinical medicine at Peking University explained the choice of masks under different needs through video.
In addition, we also found that Baidu also launched a warm reminder of “protecting wild animals, eliminating game, they are not part of the dining table” in the search results of “game”, which is actually a kind of positive value guidance and technology Good performance.
In the face of sudden outbreaks, Baidu has strong media attributes. Its role is not only to provide rumor information, but also to help users solve practical difficulties through product optimization, and to provide more authoritative information in various forms. ——Information flow, special topics, summary of reports, authoritative Q & A by experts, and products such as Encyclopedia Medical Code and Baidu Know are all online. This is one aspect of the current Internet media platform’s active response to the epidemic.
How the Internet integrates with the plight of reality and solves people’s sudden needs becomes an important issue
Compared to SARS 17 years ago, many people recalled that the epidemic situation of viruses was in a state of ignorance and serious lag, and the only channels for obtaining information were television and radio.
From today’s perspective, in the face of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, people have a higher awareness and coping attitude, which benefits