A new platform from Google has been unveiled as a resource for the 2023 presidential elections in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Elections Trends Hub will act as a focal point for Nigerians to learn more about the most well-known presidential and vice presidential candidates, political parties, and themes via the perspective of Google Trends.
On the Google Trends website, users may observe a side-by-side comparison of the Google search volumes for the candidates and hot topics at https://goo.gle/NigeriaElectionTrends. The candidate search trends over the previous 30 days are displayed in charts and maps on the portal.
As part of a bigger effort to support the 2023 elections, the Google News Lab also provides training to journalists on how to use search and other Google tools for better storytelling, including data visualisation, verification, and fact-checking.
“As Nigeria celebrates 24 years of Democracy in the upcoming elections, Google’s mission to organise and make the world’s information universally accessible and useful is more relevant than ever,” said Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager for West Africa.
“We want Nigerians to be empowered with information during the upcoming elections, so we’re organising information to make it easy for voters to learn more about the candidates through the eyes of Google Trends.
“More accessible and useful political information improves the political process and leads to greater citizen participation.”
Voters in Nigeria will benefit from the Nigeria Elections Trends Hub because it will give them the information they need to make educated choices at the polls.
“We’re empowering voters so that they are not simply watching from afar, but participating, engaging with and shaping the political process in a democratic way,” added Kola-Ogunlade.