‘Move to Gibraltar’ among British Google searches after vote
And queries about ‘what happens if we leave the EU?’ tripled.
Google Trends revealed what was on the minds of people in the U.K.as they searched for clarity around the so-called Brexit.
But if you judge a country’s interests only by prevalent Google searches, it was after the polls closed when British voters started to think seriously about the implications of their choice.
The intense political debate also played out on social media, where Twitter saw a surge in usage over more than 24 hours, with 6.4 million tweets about the European Union referendum from 7 a.m. local time, when the polls opened Thursday, to 10 a.m. Friday as the nation reacted to Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation speech, the company said in a blog post Friday.
Google Trends, on Twitter, has highlighted a few local spikes, too, with “what is Brexit” a top search related to the referendum in both Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Brits want a do-over.
Just hours after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the confusion over what Brexit may actually mean for British people started to hit home in the immediate aftermath of the official result being announced.
The petition passed the 200,000 mark on Friday evening, with a map of the voting indicating that most activity was in London – where most boroughs backed the “remain” camp in the referendum. A second referendum isn’t in the cards for now, but experts say it isn’t out of the question if those who back a British exit begin suffering from buyer’s remorse.