Google trends: a case of Antarctica

Abstract

Public perceptions enforce great influence on economical, political and environmental cooperation, whether that is positive or negative. Attitudes and values that people hold change over time and progress with their internal and external factors, such as socioeconomic changes that affect subjective perceptions. For Antarctic interests, perceptions are predominantly influenced by the engagement activities in Gateway Cities, such as Antarctica New Zealand in Christchurch, New Zealand. By analysing the global and regional public perceptions, Antarctic-related institutions and non-governmental organisations have the opportunity to utilise data and maximise their outreach campaigns by understanding what people care about. Google Trends offered the research a global survey of non-bias design, displaying data from 2004 to 2019 that highlighted keyword searches associated with Antarctica. Overall, it was evident that Argentina remain heavily focused on Antarctica as a territorial claim, whilst New Zealand have progressively moved from heroic era and exploration interests to an emotive response to native species in Antarctica. However, New Zealand’s popularity of ‘Antarctica’ searches have dramatically dropped since 2004, unlike the UK and China that have demonstrated stable and increasing popularity.