People in the South West trust Google more than their family
Those living in the South West trust Google more than their partners, family, friends and even social media, new research has shown.
Sixty per cent of people in Bristol, Devon and Cornwall admit they would rather ask the search engine for the answer to a question than their partner. Londoners and those from the North West trust Google the most.
The research by search engine marketing agency, Search Laboratory, showed that people living in the South West are much more likely to trust the search engine rather than a loved one to give them the correct answer to a problem.
This reliance on Google also extends to the news, with the search engine again preferred above friends, partners and family members for information on breaking stories. Likewise Google is more than three-times more popular for this purpose than social media.
When it comes to checking Google during a working day those in the South West use the search engine more than most of the rest of the UK, Googling an average of 2.74 times every day. Only Scotland, Northern Ireland and London search on Google more.
Search Laboratory’s research also found:
- Men are more likely than women to trust their partner over Google
- A third of people in Yorkshire don’t search on Google at all on a daily basis
- Scotland has the highest amount of people searching on Google 10+ times a day
- Trusting Google is extremely age dependent
Search Laboratory CEO and founder, Ian Harris, said: “Google is seen as a kind of oracle, when you type in a question to a search engine you almost always take the first result as gospel so it’s not surprising to see that we trust it more than our friends and family.
“And while social media grows with popularity every day, fake rumours about celebrities etc. mean there is the stigma that most things read on Twitter and Facebook should be taken with a pinch of salt.
“The search engine has pretty much killed the pub debate as any argument is almost always ended by the phrase ‘I’ve Googled it…’ whereas 10, 15 years ago you might have heard ‘I’ve asked my mate…’ and I think it’ll be a long time since we start saying ‘I’ve Twittered it.’”
The source of the information is available here.
