'Google has killed the pub debate' - study shows more than half of UK adults consult Google before friends and family
More than half of UK adults (58 per cent) would turn to Google for an answer before asking their partner, a study has shown.
Study: Google is the first port of call for many people
The figure is much higher in the 18-24-year-old age range, where more than three quarters (77 per cent) of people surveyed would make Google a first pick when looking for the answer to a question.
The study of 2,000 UK adults conducted by Search Laboratory also showed that Google was more trusted in London and the north-west than any other area in the country, with 61 per cent of adults in the regions likely to consult Google before their partners on a question.
Ian Harris, CEO and founder of Search Laboratory, said: “Google is seen as a kind of oracle, when you type in a question to a search engine you almost always take the first results as gospel so it’s not surprising to see that we as a nation trust it more than our friends and family.
“The search engine has pretty much killed the pub debate as any argument is almost always ended by the phrase ‘I’ve Googled it…’, whereas 10, 15 years ago you might have heard ‘I’ve asked my mate…’ and I think it’ll be a long time before we start saying ‘I’ve Twittered it’.”
According to the study, Scotland has the highest number of people searching on Google at 10+ times a day while a third of those surveyed in Yorkshire said they don’t use Google search at all on a daily basis.
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