Technology

Have Your Ever Noticed What Google Autocompletes When You Type in Your State?

A blogger has created a map of the United States that associates each state with its prescribed Google autocomplete stereotypes. Local media have begun responding to their state’s stereotypes based on this map as well. The general response? Look on the bright side by comparing themselves to neighboring states.

Renee DiResta, who made the map and posted it on the blog “no upside,” writes the onus for the map stemmed for a desire to see “how do Americans really think about ”those people” in other states? What are the most common stereotypes?”

For each state, DiResta asked Google “Why is [State] so X”. The autocomplete filled in the rest.

“It seemed like an ideal question to get at popular assumptions, since ‘Why is [State] so X?’ presupposes that X is true,” DiResta wrote.

Pulling together all these autocompletes into an interactive map, DiResta found most of the terms were about a state’s “culture” or the weather. Here are a few screenshots of  states and their Google autocomplete stereotypes:

Renee DiResta Creates an Interactive Map Showing Google Autocompletes Top Terms Describing States Based on Search

(Image: Renee DiResta screenshot)

Renee DiResta Creates an Interactive Map Showing Google Autocompletes Top Terms Describing States Based on Search

(Image: Renee DiResta screenshot)

Renee DiResta Creates an Interactive Map Showing Google Autocompletes Top Terms Describing States Based on Search

(Image: Renee DiResta screenshot)

Renee DiResta Creates an Interactive Map Showing Google Autocompletes Top Terms Describing States Based on Search

(Image: Renee DiResta screenshot)

Renee DiResta Creates an Interactive Map Showing Google Autocompletes Top Terms Describing States Based on Search

(Image: Renee DiResta screenshot)

DiResta goes further to analyze some of these findings. Here’s some of that, but check out DiResta’s full post for more information here:

The single most common result of all was “boring,” which appeared for 18 states with no particular regional concentration. Other popular terms (returned for >10 states) were “humid”, “windy”, “expensive”, and “liberal”. Strangely, Connecticut and Pennsylvania both returned “haunted”; apparently there are a lot of ghost sightings (and related walking tours). My favorite result of all was “enchanting”: New Mexico is beautiful.

Some local media in these states have picked up on their stereotypes. Jonathan Oosting for MLive reports that Michigan’s designation as “poor” is “not entirely surprising.” Rebecca Burns for Atlanta Magazine writes sarcastically ”Thanks a lot, Google” for Georgia’s label as “hot, humid, racist and boring.“ Burns sees the bright side though adding ”at least Georgians can, as always, take schadenfreud-y comfort in looking to our neighbors like Mississippi (“poor, racist, backwards”), Florida (“weird, trashy”) and Tennessee (“fat, stupid”).” Skylar Browning, blogging for the Missoula Independent, also takes consolation in comparing Montana to its neighbor states:

How’d Montana come out? Well, we’re not boring; a bunch of states had that come up as the first option. But we’re also not cheap; apparently Montanans, New Yorkers and Californians, among others, are worried about cost of living.

Here were the top results for Montana from DiResta’s experiment:

so windy
so great
so cold
so expensive

[...]

So windy it is. I’ll take that, and the other three results, over Utah‘s or Mississippi’s any day.

Find out what your state’s stereotypes are here. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

It should be noted that DiResta points out your own personal search results — if you were to try to replicate the experiment — may vary since Google keeps track of your past search history and other factors as it tries to provide with personalized results.

(H/T: Gizmodo)

Comments (64)

1 2
  • dawnmichael
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:46pm

    Why is Idaho so, “Conservative” .
    HA! because we don’t live in la-la land!

    Report Post »  
    • MissouriGOP
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 4:11pm

      I love Idaho. I was just there last summer. I do not understand why they are so conservative though. Love it.

      Report Post »  
    • 3monkeysmomma
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 4:15pm

      Math proficiency is a beautiful thing.

      Report Post » 3monkeysmomma  
    • drattastic
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 6:01pm

      I sure hope my state says, racist, backwards, boring & poor so liberals will stay away.

      Report Post » drattastic  
    • zjak
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 6:06pm

      Because the good people of Idaho worked hard to get to where they are without much Government. That is why Idaho is so Conservative. They love small Govt.

      Report Post »  
  • DWilliams08
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:42pm

    Adding ‘so’ pretty much implies a negative return. Drop the ‘so’ and you pretty much get what is expected. Try it with any noun, not just states.

    Report Post » DWilliams08  
    • Quiata
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:36pm

      And for even more amusement, try typing “why are…”. Funny!

      Report Post »  
  • dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:41pm

    why is the united states so
    hot
    conservative
    great
    dependant on oil

    Why is Obama so
    stupid
    bad
    popular
    socialist

    Report Post » dont_drive_slow_in_the_left_lane_obliviot  
  • stpppim
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:32pm

    … and you will find ” Why is America so great? “

    Report Post » stpppim  
  • randy
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:27pm

    Add your commentsI typed in Why is Obama.
    And not surprisingly got nothing.

    Not a birth certificate
    Not a social security card,
    Not an American.

    Nothing….

    Report Post » randy  
    • West Coast Patriot
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 5:27pm

      That is a good one.

      Report Post » West Coast Patriot  
    • orlandojon
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:45am

      The list continues: not a college transcript, not a work record, not a single published article when he was enditor of the Harvard Law Review etc

      Report Post »  
  • Eastinfection
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:17pm

    if you just type “Why is”.. the third one down says “my poop green?” LOL! I like this game.

    Report Post » Eastinfection  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:14pm

    I don’t use google, therefore I avoid their undehandedness and corrupt association with the obams admin.

    Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
  • Comeandtakeit
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:04pm

    Texas is so awesome because it is so conservative. The two go together.

    Notice the broke and expensive states also appear to be the most Democrat.

    Report Post »  
  • freelancer91
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:52pm

    Why is Illinois so…
    …corrupt
    …humid
    …flat
    …broke

    Not sure I agree with the second one, with this drought going on, but the other three are spot on…

    Report Post »  
  • PapaPatriarch
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:50pm

    So they are learning to write what you are thinkig in your head before you type it?
    I like it when technology does what i want it to do, not when it does more than i want it to do.
    Will the younger generation be affected by this ‘pre-think’?
    If you had the controls to the ‘Pre-think’, what would you do with it?
    Will ‘pre-think’ begin to guide us to ideas, like agendas?
    I personally hate the auto-complete feature, and turn it off.
    Who like it when someone finishes your thought for you anyway?
    Will Christian responces and searches be filtered out one day? Are they now?
    Mayby i’m just getting old, Sigh.

    Report Post » PapaPatriarch  
  • Payattentionppl
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:40pm

    Why is Texas so….
    …hot
    …conservative
    …cheap
    …humid
    all true. Although I was expecting it to say Why is Texas so much better than all the other states….I guess that would fall under “so proud.” :)

    Report Post »  
  • JohnLarson
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:32pm

    Why do red states leech federal tax money from blue states?

    Because they’re poor…

    Report Post »  
    • progressiveslayer
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:36pm

      I just googled why is Johnlarson

      And all I got was an idiot a moron a fool,pretty consistent and accurate.

      Report Post » progressiveslayer  
    • escape_from_socialism
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:47pm

      Better type in google:
      why is obama a bad president – 706,000,000 results
      why is obama a good president – 20,000,000 results.

      Report Post »  
  • Ziplockhand
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:31pm

    Try it with Obama and then with Reagan! Nuff said.

    Report Post »  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:28pm

    I just googled why is Detroit and these are in order.

    So bad
    So poor
    in ruins
    Abandoned

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • Utah Trish
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:18pm

    Try this search instead: Why is Obama so…

    The auto complete is much closer to the truth.

    Report Post »  
    • RightUnite
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:27pm

      Good one, and so true!

      Report Post »  
    • v15
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:34pm

      I can vouch for Utah, since I moved here almost 5 years ago. Weird and depressed is an accurate description. The culture here is what messed up this state. It wasn’t the religion but how people have institutionalized it into almost a different religion than in other parts of the country & the world. If you’re homeless, you’ll get beaten and go hungry. If you have tattoos, you’ll get pulled over and given a sobriety test. If you try to switch lanes, you will be cut off by the person next to you…

      Report Post » v15  
  • eternal_vigilance
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:18pm

    I just typed
    why is google
    and got
    why is google chrome so slow
    why is google called google
    why is google chrome crashing
    why is google so slow

    Report Post » eternal_vigilance  
  • k1ttt
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:14pm

    Massachusettes is not so odd:
    why is massachusetts so liberal
    why is massachusetts so expensive
    why is massachusetts health insurance so expensive
    liberal + expensive + romney-care = expensive health insurance! bingo!

    Report Post » k1ttt  
  • loriann12
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:09pm

    I googled Why is Texas so….and got fat, stupid, proud and racist.

    Report Post »  
    • IsThereADifference
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 3:19pm

      That’s weird I got:
      Hot
      Conservative
      Cheap
      Humid

      Your google must have built in Liberal dip-**** recognition software which supplies the results in terms the intellectually inept liberal uses most often.

      Report Post » IsThereADifference  
  • oicu814me2
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:03pm

    I type in my state Mississippi and it come up.. racist, poor, backward, stupid

    Report Post »  
  • DeVain
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:02pm

    answers I got:
    Why is KY so…
    humid?
    poor?
    good at basketball?

    Report Post » DeVain  
  • dlivelli
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:01pm

    I tried looking up the old stuff about Jane Fonda…when she went to North Vietnam and was so complimentary of our troops………. remember that? On google all I found was that the myth of the passing of the notes to her from our POW’s was false. I went back 7 pages and EVERYTHING was positive on her. I used Yahoo and the FIRST thing that popped up was the radio broadcast she did and pics of her singing commi songs with the kids while sitting on the tank. Why can’t google tell the truth? We have got to hold google accountable for their OBVIOUS BIAS….it has to stop. History is not all good. We need to learn from the bad so we don’t repeat it. That won’t happen if truth disappears! USE YAHOO…SUPPORT THE COMPETITION!!!!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:00pm

    I typed in “Why is Obama so…..” and a virus just attacked my computer, stole my identity, drained my bank account, and a TSA agent showed up to give me a good frisking. Joe Biden is also trying to call my cell phone, he wants to make a play date with me.

    Stupid Google, always causing me trouble.

    Report Post » Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 1:55pm

    I just Googled “Why is Georgia” and this came up first: Why is Georgia dirt red? “Why is Georgia so racist?” wasn’t even listed. I just did “Why is Obama” and got “Why is Obama a bad president?” LOL

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • stumpy68
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:59pm

      I did obama and one was “why is obama so racist”

      Report Post » stumpy68  
  • lukerw
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 1:52pm

    Egyptian Blue States… so In DeNile!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • Sorocialism
    Posted on August 16, 2012 at 1:50pm

    Why is this article so_____?

    Dear Blaze staff…isn’t there a tanked U.S. economy, a middle east about to explode, and a few other things you can report on?

    Report Post »  
    • CaptMickeyd
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 2:37pm

      Does everything on the Blaze have to be about the doom and gloom of the country? Is there no room for a light-hearted article every now and then? Come on man, lighten up.

      Report Post » CaptMickeyd  
    • Quiata
      Posted on August 16, 2012 at 10:32pm

      Sometimes you just need a little R&R (heh heh…), sometimes a whole country needs a LOT of R&R. ;^)

      Report Post »  
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