If you know my book, you know I started this whole endeavor with a random link in late 2001 or early 2002 to Google’s first ever Zeitgeist. Well, since then they launched Trends, and now they’ve updated it with Hot Trends.
From an email Google sent me (the site is not responding at 10 pm…):
On Monday night, Google launched Hot Trends, a new feature on the Google Trends report. Hot Trends enables users to see a list of the current top 100 fastest-rising Google search queries in the U.S. Users can also select specific dates to see what the top-rising searches were at a given point in time.
For years, Google has produced a manually-compiled list of popular searches called the Google Zeitgeist. Hot Trends takes this list to a new level, providing an up-to-date snapshot of what’s on our collective mind – from current events to daily crossword puzzle clues to the latest celebrity gossip. For each Hot Trends result, the associated Google News, blog searches and Google web search results appear, giving users greater context for each result. For example, the #2 Hot Trends result on Tuesday, May 15th was a cryptic phrase: “I who have nothing.” The associated news articles and blog results showed that this is in fact the title of a song that was performed on American Idol that night. And the associated web search results reveals this was originally a song made popular by Shirley Bassey. Mystery solved.
In addition to Hot Trends, there are a few other new changes to Google Trends to make it more informative and user-friendly. Now, in addition to viewing the top countries and cities that searched for a term, users can view the top “sub regions” (i.e. states within the U.S.) across more than 70 countries. Users can now compare the leading presidential candidates around the country, for instance, or find out what region in France is crazy about cognac. Hot Trends is Google’s newest tool for users who want to keep their finger on the pulse of what the world is searching for.
I’m sure it’ll be up soon here.
It’s up now John and the more I’m using it, the more interesting things I’m finding.
Actually I am rather disappointed. I have read someone predicting that Google is launching its own Techmeme and expected something worth following. But here we have so many repetitions (even in the first 10: bachelor winner, who won the bachelor, bachelor results, bachelor final).
Ben E. King recorded the original ‘I Who Have Nothing” in 1963. Yes, there are tech guys around who are old enough to rember!!
Tancredo is very popular in Brazil, moreso than in the U.S. That’s unexpected, for a current presidential candidate.
There’s a Brazilian politician named Tancredo, but he died 22 years ago …
I would link to the Trends & Wikipedia entries for “tancredo” but I’m not in my TypeKey, and don’t recall what it is. &%$! spammers.
warming up cold coffee in a microwave….