I don’t know much about psychology but I believe confessions make us feel some how better. It came to me that confessions don’t only take place at church but online as well. There are religious confession sites and there are other confession sites that are just naughty. But Google by far is the largest confession booth.
We are what we search for
I enjoy researching online search trends, I recently wrote about the top questions Americans ask online. I started researching how we confess online, I did multiple types of searches “I am …”, “I’m …”, “I am not …”, etc. I also figured out another type of confession; I found that many users are searching for “am I …”. While “i am …” searchers are seeking help, “am I …” searchers are seeking confirmation.
I am Sad
“i am sad” is the most popular confession/search online based on Google Keyword Tool for the last 12 month while ‘I am alone’ is the most popular search over the last 5 years based on Google Insights not only in US but worldwide.
The list includes many other types of confessions, but the saddest one is ‘I am dying‘. Users with terminal illness are searching for hope, help or companionship.
‘I am poor‘ also made it to the top 11 most popular confessional searches, but the good news is the search volume has been near constant for the last 4 years.
Many users are searching by ‘am I …?”, which is in a way confessional question. The most popular ones are ‘am I fat’, ‘Am I hot’, ‘am I psychic’. Also many other users search for ‘am I bipolar’, ‘am I anorexic’. Some even search for ‘am I God’, good luck figuring this one out.
Not-So-Fun Facts
Based on Google Insights, Pennsylvania is the loneliest state while New York is the saddest state in the US. The most depressed state is Ohio then Pennsylvania. It seems Pennsylvania is not only Sad but also deeply Depressed.
Depression is on the rise, it seems that depression started increasing greatly in the first quarter of 2007. ‘ I am sad’ is increasing worldwide not only in US.
If you have a dating site or selling anti-depressant drugs, here is your golden chance. Study Google Hot trends for these searches and you will find your perfect customers.
If you are moving, reconsider moving to any of these states that are depressed, sad or lonely.
here is the complete list:
* I used Google Keyword Tool and Google Insights. I used exact matches and eliminated many keywords that may be associated with other things like movies, music, books, popular sites, etc ‘i am legend, i am woman, i am american, etc”.