What you google is where you are from: Power and proximity in the global information flow of online searches

What information do people search about other countries and why? In this study we coded and analyzed more than 15,000 Google searches related to France and Spain during a 16-year period, from 18 countries with diverse characteristics and relationships with France and Spain. We coded these search queries into topical categories. We also collected country-level variables to reflect the power of each country and its proximity to France and Spain. We studied the associations between the components of power and proximity of countries and their search topics. Our findings reveal that the power and proximity of the searching countries can predict much of their search topics with some specific differences between France and Spain. While economically powerful countries tend to search more for travel destinations, poorer countries search more for sports. Richer countries with geographic proximity tend to search for shopping and transportation, while poorer countries with historical and cultural proximity search more for language and education opportunities. We propose an integrative model to assess the different dimensions of power and proximity of countries and discuss the implications of our findings to theories of global information flows.