What has the Internet revealed in the second year of the pandemic?

By Carol Junqueira 

We have always known that the aspirations of the population leave their marks on the Internet. But in 2021, in the second year of the pandemic, the history of consumer searches in the country reveals, with even more nuances, the tensions experienced by the population in the period. While many adapt to the return of intermittent social interaction, others are still forced to stay at home to work and study. Divided between "preserving oneself" and the resumption of face-to-face meetings and travel, "com.br" searches reflect this ambiguity. 

Consolidated data from 2021 from Radar Simplex, Simplex's monthly monitoring of the most searched terms on 6 million pages of major Brazilian e-commerce, in addition to information from the Year in Search report for the same period on Google, reveal desires, fears and practices of those who need to deal with challenges unimaginable until then. We have separated the most prominent searches into three categories. Each describes a reverberation of Covid-19 in 2021: Digital Life, Pandemic and Lifestyle.

Digital Life

TVs, cell phones and notebooks - the rise in searches for these items may reflect the need to "be at home" and make it more comfortable. The concern with classes that continue online and with work that, for some, remains restricted to the home office, are highlighted at various times of the year. From January to February 2021, a 169% growth is recorded in the demand for cell phones and 520% for notebooks. In the week of Black Friday, this number is even higher. There is a 646% increase in searches for notebooks from November 2020 to November 2021. The term TV has an expansion of 262% in the week of Black Friday, compared to the same period in 2020. 

"Stay at home" has another impact on the Simplex Radar results. Items such as office chairs and tables, as well as desks, appear among the most searched for in the monitored e-commerces. In parallel, the Google survey indicates a 100% increase in global searches for "landscaping ideas for the garden" and 400% for "economical ideas for small bathrooms". Similarly, interest in "Carnival at home" experienced a 110% increase in February 2021.

Pandemic

The pandemic is omnipresent and explicit in the online world. In January, at the same time that one of the main searches detected by Google is "how to help Manaus", at this point fighting an explosion of Covid-19 cases, the Simplex Radar points out a demand for "masks", a term that grows 362% compared to the same period in 2020.

March 2021 is a watershed. At that moment, daily deaths in the country jump from 53 to 1,160. It is at this point that searches for items and themes related to Covid-19 basically go viral. "When will I be vaccinated" is the most common question on the internet in April, according to Google: it grows 2,250%. The same concern is reflected in the Simplex Radar. From February to March, there is a 226% growth in the search for N95 masks.

Since November, with the approach of the Christmas and New Year's Eve parties, Covid and Influenza tests have gained relevance. In that month, both items suffer a rise of 4,550%. In December, the increase reaches 10,600%! In the last month of the year, in addition to the fact that cases of infected people almost double - from 27,000 per day at the beginning to more than 50,000 at the end - the demand for these tests reflects the expectation for family and friend reunions. It also indicates the desire to travel. According to Google, there is a 600% increase in global searches for information on "border restrictions" and a 300% increase for "international travel" by the end of the year.

Lifestyle

The pandemic also impacts lifestyle-related searches. Google indicates a 150% increase in online searches for "near me with outdoor tables".

After more than a year cloistered in 2020, love shows its face in 2021. The Simplex Radar points out, in January 2021, the search for "wedding or engagement rings", which grows 105% compared to a year earlier. On Google, worldwide searches for "micro wedding" are double what they were in 2020.  

Who emerges with strength in internet searches, especially among paulistanos and cariocas, is beach tennis. With an increase of 341% from March to April, it is probably linked to the fact that the sport allows a greater distance between players on outdoor sand courts.

With the arrival of winter, and the intense cold - data from the National Institute of Meteorology indicate that Rio records in 2021 the winter with more days with an average temperature below 20 degrees in the last decade - searches for second skin (a type of thin sweater to put under woolen knitwear), rise 244% in May compared to April. And in July, it's "thermal clothing" that's unashamedly on the rise, up 1,704% on the previous month.

The economic crisis is also present in 2021. The IGP-M shows annual inflation of 17.78% in August. In parallel, the expression "Stock Market" grows 169% in the month, compared to the same period of the previous year. The Google report points to a 60% global growth in the expression "how to invest", proving the same concern of people with the protection of their assets.

In short: if 2020, before the debut of Covid-19, can be characterized as a watershed, 2021 deserves to be named as the "year of resilience". We tied the knot, we jumped small, we took a deep breath, we swam in a rough sea. May 2022 be more generous!