google.org - ReadWriteWeb

Tracking Influenza: Google Flu Trends Now Covers 16 More Countries

Frederic Lardinois — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:53:45 -0800

Google just announced a major expansion of its Flu Trends program which monitors searches for Flu-related symptoms on Google's search engine to predict Flu outbreaks. Until now, Google only made the data it gathered from searches in the U.S., Mexico, Australia and New Zealand available, but now, Google has expanded the product to cover 16 more countries, including Russia, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Poland and Spain.

]]> Flu Trends launched last November, and a lot of people were skeptical about whether Google's data could really be used to track the spread of the flu. According to Google's own research (PDF), which was published in Nature earlier this year, Flu Trends had a 0.92 correlation with the official flu data. Now, with the help of data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Google was also able to validate its models for flu-related queries in Europe. The official data is usually a week or two behind, but Google's data is created in real time.

Google has been very active in the Flu research community. Just a few weeks ago, the company also announced a partnership with the Public Library of Science, which now uses Google Knol to publish data and papers about influenza research.

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Google Releases Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico

Frederic Lardinois — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:05:05 -0800

Google just launched an experimental version of Flu Trends that focuses only on the current flu outbreak in Mexico. Google Flu Trends, which was launched last November, tracks and maps flu-related search queries to predict how many people in a given region actually have the flu. Google stresses that Flu Trends for Mexico is only an experimental product, and that it tries to distinguish between topical searches about the flu and searches by users who may actual experience flu symptoms. Given the current interest in the swine flu, a lot of users are obviously looking for general information about it, which could easily skew Google's algorithms.

]]> We already know that Google Flu Trends is indeed a decent indicator for tracking the flu, so it will be interesting to see if Google's data also works for this current outbreak in Mexico. In the U.S. Google was able to validate its estimates using data from the CDC about actual flu trends and according to some estimates, Flu Trends registers these trends up to two weeks faster than the conventional reports published by the CDC.

For the current epidemic in Mexico, though, Google obviously hasn't had time to validate its data against official data from Mexican authorities, but given the current interest in the topic, Google decided to go ahead and release this as an experimental product.

It would be interesting to see if Facebook could do something similar with Facebook Lexicon, though for now, Facebook only allows users to use this tool to perform relatively general queries.

Update: looks like Facebook actually posted some data about the swine flu today.

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Google.org Gets More Business-Like

Rick Turoczy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:34:56 -0800

Three years ago Google launched Google.org, an attempt to "use the power of information and technology to address the global challenges of our age." And they've been very successful in that regard, providing more than $100 million in grants, creating tools like Google Flu Trends, and leveraging technology like the recently launched Google PowerMeter. But there is still much to be done. Now, Google.org has announced a reorganization to help them meet the goals for Google's philanthropic arm - by bringing Google.org closer inline with Google itself.

]]> While Google remains committed to contributing 1% of its equity and profits to Google.org, the company has taken a more controlling interest in how that money is allocated and spent. As such, Dr. Larry Brilliant will step aside as Executive Director to take the position of Chief Philanthropy Evangelist. In his place, Megan Smith will step into the role of General Manager.

As the current Vice President of New Business Development, Smith is a proven deal maker for Google, having led the acquisitions of Keyhole ( which became Google Earth), Where2Tech (which became Google Maps), and Picasa as well as co-leading discussions with publishers surrounding Google Book Search.

Bear in mind that she retains that Vice President position in addition to taking on the General Manager role - and that's what makes this reorganization so interesting.

What Does This Move Mean?

Clearly Google discovered that doing good was good business - perhaps even better business than "Do no evil."

According to Dr. Brilliant's post:

"[O]ur greatest impact has come when we've attacked problems in ways that make the most of Google's strengths in technology and information; examples of this approach include Flu Trends, RechargeIT, Clean Energy 2030, and PowerMeter. By aligning Google.org more closely with Google as a whole, Megan will ensure that we're better able to build innovative, scalable technology and information solutions."

It only makes sense for Google to bring these pursuits closer to the fold: they provide generous amounts of data for analysis and they continue to facilitate leading-edge engineering at a time when more traditional pursuits are beginning to soften.

It will be interesting to see what Smith brings to the Google.org organization, but it's safe to assume that there will be some deals in the works. Our guess? We'd say the first deals Smith brokers are with Google PowerMeter and the major power providers in the US.

Or do you have a better idea about where Google might be going with this move?

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