From Query to Communication: A Data-Driven Study of Indonesians Google Search Behavior
Keywords:
Query, Digital Communication, Google Search, Data-Driven Communication, Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine how people in Indonesian society use the Google Search Engine to find information as part of the digital public communication process. Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) is the foundation of the Big Data Analytics strategy used in this study. Using data from the Kaggle Machine Learning and Data Science Community Portal, the study examines the "Google Searches of Indonesian People 2019-2024" dataset. Data collection, data cleaning (managing missing values and outliers), descriptive statistical analysis (mean, median, mode), data visualisation (histogram, scatter plot), finding patterns and correlations between variables, and interpretation of results to make preliminary conclusions are the main steps in exploratory data analysis (EDA), which aims to comprehend the structure and features of the data prior to further modelling. The results of this study offer scholars important new information: sports, entertainment, politics, and economics are the most searched topics in Indonesia. Bar charts, pie charts, and work cloud are examples of data visualisations that show how information searches reflect not just cognitive requirements but also social anxieties, cultural goals, and collective concerns. The results of this study undoubtedly support the notion that Google Search functions as a silent communication tool where people actively participate in the process of negotiating social orientation and meaning on an individual basis but with a foundation in collective dynamics. This study also demonstrates the importance of a data-driven approach in the study of digital communication and offers an interactive framework for reading Google Search as a hidden yet significant public discursive space. This research provides a theoretical contribution in expanding the study of big data-based communication that is practically useful for policymakers, media practitioners, academics who want to understand the dynamics of digital public discourse specifically.
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Published 2025-12-31