Google Trends: Kenosha searches vs Portland searches show a clear timeline; Fortnite beats newcomer Fall Guys in search popularity
Two charts show the trending statistics of protests in two cities based on major events, as well as the popularity of recent video games.
By Bianca Maldonado
Searches for Portland, Kenosha show not just mainstream attention, but also timeline of events
View the interactive chart.
While the Portland protests have been going on for over 100 days, the city still didn’t trend as much on Google as when Kenosha did after the police shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23, and the subsequent fatal shooting by Illinois teen Kyle Rittenhouse. Even after another fatal shooting in Portland on August 29, Portland only came about halfway close to Kenosha in terms of trending. However, Kenosha searches have entered a downward slope quite a bit, presumably due to the Portland shooting getting immediate attention on the news cycles.
This chart shows not just the trending statistics of the events in these two cities, but they also show the timeline of events. The uptick in searches for Kenosha are for Jacob Blake, and Kyle Rittenhouse right after, and then they give way for the searches for Portland after the shooting there. Since these events happened in a span of just a few days, this chart can help make sense of what happened when, especially in the larger scope of the protests happening this year.
Fortnite Still Beats Out Newcomer in Search Popularity
View the interactive chart.
Despite Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout becoming a hit within gaming circles, Fortnite looms over it, still having good search momentum about three years after its release. This can be likely due to the fact that Fortnite has a mainstream reputation compared to Fall Guys, even though Fall Guys is still fairly new. In recent weeks, Fortnite has also announced a crossover with Marvel, gaining the attention of not just fans of the game, but also the attention of Marvel fans.
Fortnite gains search popularity not just through fans, but also through tech news; Apple removed the game from the app store in August for failing to follow guidelines by adding in a payment system within its own app. Epic Games has hit Apple back with lawsuits, and is now asking for Fortnite to be returned to the App Store soon, as iOS players have dropped significantly.
