Yeah, I am not sure what's "Big Data" about any of this.
That's very common in Big Data™
The first rule of Big Data is that you probably don't have Big Data.
Instead try to realize the truth. There is no data. Then you may realize it is not the data that is big... it is your head.
Or the portfolio of buzzword targets your investors/MBA frat boys/marketing vets want you to hit.
Well Google Flu Trends was debunked in the article. I guess they are just reiterating and updating some well-loved heuristics to also include some contemporary techniques / fallacies.