# install ----------------------------------------------------------------------
install.packages("globaltrends")Google offers public access to global search volumes through its
search engine through the Google Trends portal. The
globaltrends package downloads search volumes provided by
Google Trends and uses them to measure and analyze the
distribution of search trends across countries
or within countries. globaltrends allows
researchers and analysts to investigate patterns within these trends,
such as degree of internationalization
of firms and organizations or dissemination of political, social, or
technological trends across the globe or within single countries.
To measure degree of internationalization, globaltrends
offers a wide array of empirical possibilities. It allows researchers to
compare degree of internationalization for
various organizations on a unified scale. In addition, the
time-series nature of Google Trends allows for
historical analysis of internationalization
patterns and speed within organizations.
The enormous detail of the data opens additional applications in
research that are impossible with traditional measures of
internationalization. For instance, using globaltrends on a
subnational level allows researchers to study
proliferation within a country and, for example, to
trace a particular market entry. In addition, globaltrends
offers applications beyond corporate internationalization, such as
data on global interest in products, persons,
events, fads or scandals, even academic authors and
papers.
globaltrends provides user-friendly access to Google
Trends. The package vignette offers additional technical details and a
basic tutorial. Please, refer to the package
NEWS for a change log.
This version of the globaltrends
package can use the Google Trends Research API
provided by Google. To use this API access, you must:
google-api-python-client package with pip.To interact with the API (i.e., to download data from Google Trends),
you must first initialize your Python session and run
initialize_python() before the downloads (see below). If
initialize_python() is not called, the downloads will be
made through the gtrendsR package. We suggest using
the official Google Trends Research API as the
preferred option to access data from Google
Trends!
# install ----------------------------------------------------------------------
install.packages("globaltrends")
# packages ---------------------------------------------------------------------
library(dplyr)
library(globaltrends)
# connect to db ----------------------------------------------------------------
initialize_db()
start_db()
# add new control batch --------------------------------------------------------
new_control <- add_control_keyword(keyword = c("gmail", "map", "translate", "wikipedia", "youtube"))
# add new object batch ---------------------------------------------------------
new_object <- add_object_keyword(keyword = c("manchester united", "real madrid"))
# initialize python ------------------------------------------------------------
initialize_python(
api_key = Sys.getenv("GOOGLE_API_KEY"), # Google Trends API key
conda_env = Sys.getenv("CONDA_ENV"), # Location of conda environment OR
python_env = Sys.getenv("PYTHON_ENV") # Location of Python environment
)
# run control download ---------------------------------------------------------
download_control(control = new_control)
download_control_global(control = new_control)
# run object download ----------------------------------------------------------
download_object(object = new_object)
download_object_global(object = new_object)
# compute search score ---------------------------------------------------------
compute_score(control = new_control, object = new_object)
compute_voi(control = new_control, object = new_object)
# compute degree of internationalization ---------------------------------------
compute_doi(control = new_control, object = new_object)
# export data ------------------------------------------------------------------
out_score <- export_score(keyword = "manchester united")
out_voi <- export_voi(keyword = "manchester united")
out_doi <- export_doi(locations = "countries")
# disconnect from db -----------------------------------------------------------
disconnect_db()If you run globaltrends on a headless machine (e.g., a
virtual machine), you can adapt the daily downloads to Google’s API
quota. The get_api_usage function provides tracks the
amount of downloads and provides information on how many downloads are
left until the daily limit of 10,000 downloads is met. You can use this
function to create a while loop that stops, when the download limit is
met:
batch_object <- read_rds("data/batch_object.rds")
i <- 1
while (get_api_usage()[2] >= 100 & i <= max(batch_object)) {
download_object(object = i, control = 1)
download_object_global(object = i, control = 1)
i <- i + 1
}Note: Limits are reset at midnight Pacific Time (UTC-8).
If you use the globaltrends package, please cite it as:
Puhr, H., & Müllner, J. (2021). Let me Google that for you:
Capturing globalization using Google Trends (SSRN Working Paper
3969013). Available at doi:10.2139/ssrn.3969013.
globaltrends