How to Stay Connected, Virtual Hug Amongst the Top Search Queries, Google Search Trends Show

How to stay connected and virtual get-togethers were amongst the key search trends on Google over the last seven days as a large number of people are still staying indoors due to the coronavirus outbreak and finding ways to stay in touch with their friends and family. Google has also shown that virtual love and virtual dance party were some of the top weekly searches on its site. Similarly, the question “how to keep in touch” was searched four times more than “how to keep your room clean” last month. This suggests that several people are trying to move ahead in the pandemic.

Google has released its search trends for this week to highlight what all has been largely searched on its site in the last seven days. The top searches show that people have started making a shift from finding relaxing music, breathing exercises, and how to stay organise all of which were a part of top searches previously and are looking for ways to stay connected virtually. Here, we're detailing the dominating search queries to let you understand the change.

1. How to stay connected

As per the latest search trends, Google has noted that the question of how to stay connected has been searched on its site more than ever. This shows that connecting virtually has become the new normal for people worldwide. This is, of course, quite obvious as we're all staying indoors due to the coronavirus outbreak. Companies like Google and Microsoft have also eased virtual connectivity through solutions such as Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

2. Virtual hug

In addition to searches for finding solutions to stay connected, Google has highlighted that virtual hug was amongst the top queries in the recent time. People in the Philippines, in fact, searched for a virtual hug more than anywhere else over the past 30 days. Likewise, a large number of netizens in Australia looked for virtual flowers on Google more than anywhere else over the last one month. The trends also show that people in India searched for quarantine birthday wishes more than anywhere else over the past 30 days. All this shows that while observing social distancing, we're looking for solutions to convey our feelings and love.

3. Virtual dance party

Google's latest search trends also highlight that apart from sending our affection to others through virtual hugs and quarantine birthday wishes, a large number of people also looked for ways to stay fit and healthy themselves by searching for a virtual dance party. The virtual dance party query is so far the top searched “virtual dance” trend of this year. There is also a significant increase in the searches for virtual dance classes. Several videos have been uploaded on YouTube and other video sharing platforms to teach different dances virtually. Also, people are actively sharing dance videos using social media apps.

4. Group call

Alongside virtual activities, searches for group call, group phone, and group watch hit record highs worldwide last month. Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all have tried to serve group audio and video calling solutions to their uses. We've also seen a massive increase in the user base of video conferencing app Zoom, which reached 300 million meeting participants despite various security concerns.

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