Google offers public access to global search volumes through its
search engine through the Google Trends portal. The
globaltrends
package downloads search volumes provided by
Google Trends and uses them to measure and analyze the
distribution of search trends across countries or within
countries. globaltrends
allows researchers and
analysts to investigate patterns within these trends, such as
degree of internationalization of firms and
organizations or dissemination of political, social, or technological
trends across the globe or within single countries.
To measure degree of internationalization, globaltrends
offers a wide array of empirical possibilities. It allows researchers to
compare degree of internationalization for various organizations
on a unified scale. In addition, the time-series nature of
Google Trends allows for historical analysis of
internationalization patterns and speed within
organizations.
The enormous detail of the data opens additional applications in
research that are impossible with traditional measures of
internationalization. For instance, using globaltrends
on a
subnational level allows researchers to study proliferation
within a country and, for example, to trace a particular market
entry. In addition, globaltrends
offers applications beyond
corporate internationalization, such as data on global interest
in products, persons, events, fads or scandals, even academic authors
and papers.
globaltrends
provides user-friendly access to Google
Trends. The package
vignette offers additional technical details and a basic tutorial.
Please, refer to the package
NEWS for change log.
# install ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# current cran version
install.packages("globaltrends")
# current dev version
devtools::install_github("ha-pu/globaltrends", build_vignettes = TRUE)
# packages ---------------------------------------------------------------------
library(dplyr)
library(globaltrends)
# connect to db ----------------------------------------------------------------
initialize_db()
start_db()
# add new control batch --------------------------------------------------------
new_control <- add_control_keyword(keyword = c("gmail", "map", "translate", "wikipedia", "youtube"))
# add new object batch ---------------------------------------------------------
new_object <- add_object_keyword(keyword = c("manchester united", "real madrid"))
# run control download ---------------------------------------------------------
download_control(control = new_control)
download_control_global(control = new_control)
# run object download ----------------------------------------------------------
download_object(object = new_object)
download_object_global(object = new_object)
# compute search score ---------------------------------------------------------
compute_score(control = new_control, object = new_object)
compute_voi(control = new_control, object = new_object)
# compute degree of internationalization ---------------------------------------
compute_doi(control = new_control, object = new_object)
# export data ------------------------------------------------------------------
out_score <- export_score(keyword = "manchester united")
out_voi <- export_voi(keyword = "manchester united")
out_doi <- export_doi(type = "obs", locations = "countries")
# plot data --------------------------------------------------------------------
plot_bar(data = out_score)
plot_ts(data = out_score)
plot_box(data = out_score)
plot_ts(data = out_voi)
plot_box(data = out_voi)
plot_ts(data = out_doi)
plot_box(data = out_doi)
plot_voi_doi(data_voi = out_voi, data_doi = out_doi)
# get abnormal internationalization --------------------------------------------
abnorm_score <- get_abnorm_hist(data = out_score)
plot_bar(data = abnorm_score)
plot_ts(data = abnorm_score)
plot_box(data = abnorm_score)
abnorm_voi <- get_abnorm_hist(data = out_voi)
plot_ts(data = abnorm_voi)
plot_box(data = abnorm_voi)
abnorm_doi <- get_abnorm_hist(data = out_doi)
plot_ts(data = abnorm_doi)
plot_box(data = abnorm_doi)
# disconnect from db -----------------------------------------------------------
disconnect_db()
If you use the globaltrends
package, please cite it as:
Puhr, H., & Müllner, J. (2021). Let me Google that for you:
Capturing globalization using Google Trends (SSRN Working Paper
3969013). Available at https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=3969013.