Google Trends

You know what I think is really cool and fun to play around with?
“Google Trends”.

Did you know that Google keeps statistics on searches made with its engine?
Oh sure, some people might get bent out of shape about this and scream “Big Brother”...but really, no names are attached to the results, so I don’t find it a problem.

Anyway...Google takes these results and compiles them for the public to review...and the numbers are really interesting. In my opinion these statistics represent an unscientific reflection of the American public’s mind.

Here is an example of what I am talking about.

Today (September 1, 2010) the Top Ten Hot Topics being researched on Google are:
Venus Williams
Tropical Storm Fiona
The Blaze
Puppies
Mike Wise
Meghan McCain
Hurricane Earl
Cancun Bar
xbox live
White Sox

Pretty cool right?

And if you click on one of these topics a bar graph displays showing the search activity at certain times of day.
Pretty cool again, right?

But the most fascinating part of Google Trends are the updates.
Here is how it works...if you click one of the Top Ten Hot items...a long list of tweets and news stories related to the selected topic is displayed and “updated in real-time”. Its like a scrolling information board.
Don’t think its is pretty cool, yet?

Well, how about this. Not only can you view real-time updates for the top ten topics, you can search your own topic.
I did it.
I put the words “real estate” in the search criteria and watched...new tweets and news stories dealing with real estate came up every ten seconds or so...It was amazing.

So this is what I’m thinking...When there is a major storm coming (like Hurricane Earl) or a major news event happening...all you have to do is plug the topic in and watch news about it in real time.

Pretty cool, right? I thought you’d agree