It's Not So Bad Being Trendy

Google Trends is the latest and greatest invention by the Silicon Valley monster that has their hand in everything from space exploration to our world's oil supply. Now, to further advance the empire's kingdom in search, Google offers their users a tool to see what the most popular searches are by time and region. To illustrate how it works: imagine you're a rising band, in this example we'll use 'Coconut Records', and you want to know where people are searching for you and if your popularity in search is higher than a similar indie group, 'Vampire Weekend'.

With Google Trends, you simply type the two band names in, separated by a comma, and hit enter. Out comes a graph tracking the latest search trends for both groups and lists of cities where the most searches are being conducted for each. In this case, I set the filters to track all regions over the last year. Additionally, the graph then shows how often each group has appeared in the news over the past year.

The resulting graph shows that Vampire Weekend is the more popular group based on how often they are being sought via search. They are also being covered in the news more often than Coconut Records. In fact, this information reveals that they are wildly more trendy than Coconut Records over the past 12 months.

Still, the graph also demonstrates that search inquiries for Vampire Weekend are dipping over the last few months. If I were an advertiser such as Apple, looking for the next hit song to use in our upcoming product launch, I might use Google Trends to see if either Vampire Weekend or Coconut Records should be my artist of choice. Given the data presented in this example, the fading popularity of Vampire Weekend shows they may no longer be on the cusp and the relatively unknown nature of Coconut Records, with fewer but steady search requests over the last 12 months, may be a more enticing choice.

Should someone wish to compare more subjects, they can. Google Trends allows for up to 5 different subjects at once. My roommate conducted a test on the 2008 Presidential candidates and found that Obama has been searched for and covered in the news far more than McCain or Clinton over the past year. If this is a predictor of future events, we may already know who the front-runner is...at least amongst the Internet savvy. Pause a second and imagine the possibilities that this free & public application presents our world. Scary.

So, is this device a predictor of the future? Can advertisers, educators, leaders and other curious individuals get a glimpse into a crystal ball with Google Trends? Maybe the device in question can already tell you the answer? Visit Google.com/Trends to find out for yourself.