Google is just an unstoppable octopus of helpfulness these days.  If you’re a webmaster, you know all about Google Analytics, which tracks your website’s performance, and Google Trends, which tracks general internet things of interest.  There’s also Google’s advertising network AdSense, the Google Android smart phone OS, the Google Chrome web browser, and all the other things that Google does to expand the brand.  Now, Google is interested in keeping you healthy with their new Google Flu Trends.

Basically, Google and the Centers for Disease Control decided to get together and make an interactive flu map showing you just how bad flu season is in your area.  There’s also historical flu data and most helpfully, a flu shot locater that works via your zip code and tells you where you can go to get your flu resistance assistance.  It seems like a strange thing for Google to branch out into, but it’s probably just a precursor for Google MedSense, their competitor to WebMD, or some attempt to launch a searchable physician network database.

It’s just one step closer to Googlezon, but nobody ever said that The Matrix couldn’t also be helpful, right?  So long as we can all avoid another deadly flu pandemic like there was in 1918, I don’t care what Google Flu does.

Tags: health news, google, google flu, google flu tracker, flu tracker, influenza, the flu, flu monitoring, flu shots, flu map, flu trends, 1918 spanish flu pandemic, flu outbreak, flu shot locator

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