Google with a dose of Flu!

Google is dabbling in medical issues now!

Google has launched a new tool called Google Flue Trends to help the US government track Flu trends and characteristics throughout the US.

If a particular trend shows an outbreak the system will notify the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention informing them of an impending epidemic.

The way the technology works it to look at the search usage of specific terms associated with flu like Influenza and other related terms and amalgamates the data in order to predict the scale of the problem in a particular area.

Google Trends technology has been used in online marketing and SEO for some time now and is a useful tool in its own right. This new implantation is just a nice way to use the data in a positive and helpful way. This is closely in line with Google's goal of organising the world's information.

Way to go Google!

Acchueeee!