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CONTENTS Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 . PART I: UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES 11 Chapter I : PPC-Porn, Pills, and Casinos 13 O u r fascination with skin, quick fixes, and easy money. Actions speak louder than words, as aggregate interaction with the underbelly of the Internet reveals patterns that aren't easy to ascertain from traditional sources. Chapter 2: Getting to What We Really Think 33 Do platform stand, voting record, and integrity determine whom we vote for? Search-term data reveals a lot about a candidate's brand and the half-life of negative information. See how these insights may innovate the way we measure brand in the business world. Chapter 3: Prom in January 49 Why do searches for "prom dresses" peak the first week of January? [nternet searches reveal that our gut instincts regarding seasonality are often wrong, resulting in market inefficiencies. We have much to learn from consumers; we just have to observe collective search patterns. Chapter 4: Failed Resolutions and the False Hope Syndrome 69 O u r commitment to New Year change is surprisingly short-lived, with "diet" searches lasting less than a week. Outrageous claims as to how we can improve ourselves with no effort lead ultimately to the downward spiral of false hope. Chapter 5: Celebrity Worship Syndrome 87 The lnternet and specifically celebrity blogs have brought unprecedented public access to the lives of celebrities, fueling our obsession with the famous. Chapter 6: What Are You Afraid Of? and Other Telling Questions 101 We search on information about our fears-over a thousand unique onesfrom fear of public speaking to fear of elbows and ceiling fans. Search engines have become a new nonjudgmental place for us to ask questions we are increasingly less likely to ask each other. Chapter 7: Web Who.0 119 Is the 80/20 rule passi? With all the hype around Web 2.0, surprisingly few Internet users actively create consumer-generated media, giving rise to the new 1-9-90 rule. PART II: WHAT'S POSSIBLE WITH WHAT WE KNOW 139 Chapter 8: Data Rocks and the Television-Internet Connection 141 Laptops have become increasingly popular in the living room. O u r Internet behavior reveals how we react o h h e to what we see on the tube. As the television-Internet gap closes, we learn what motivates us to interact. Chapter 9: Women Wrestlers and Arbitraging Financial Markets 155 Does volume of search terms translate to popularity? Is it possible to predict reality television show votes from how Internet users search? Near real-time Internet data provides a time advantage over traditional leading economic indicators. Chapter 10: Finding the Early Adopters 171 New technology spreads through society in predictable segments starting with Innovators and Early Adopters. lnternet behavior viewed in the correct light can help illuminate who the Early Adopters are and what they're doing today. Chapter 11: Super-connectors and Predicting the Next Rock Star 185 Visitors to official band websites traditionally come from either social networks or search engines; graphing these two sources of traffic allows us to visualize Malcolm Gladwell's "tipping point." Epilogue: Who We Are and Why It Matters 199 Notes 205 Glossary 211 Index 213