Our Facebook 'Were Here' count is a loose of how many people were at a given location at a certain point in time.
If there's a check-in, or someone goes to multiple places in a mall and talks about it on Facebook ($FB), those all count. It can be a great way to see if foot traffic at retail stores or restaurants has gone up or down, even if the exact numbers are inflated.
So when we took every company that has 'Were Here' data on Facebook, and combined those numbers into one data point, we found that the global Covid-19 pandemic has made people stay indoors. Basically, most of them.
63% fewer hits on Facebook is what we recorded, from January 6th to March 23rd. Fears over the outbreak and social distancing guidelines have driven most of the foot traffic away from places that once saw millions come in on a daily basis. Not so much anymore, and we expect this number to keep dropping, rightfully so, as we all try and flatten that curve to stop more infections and deaths.
Businesses everywhere will take a hit in the short term, but it's worth it, in the long run, to allow communities to reduce their exposure to the pandemic.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.