redefining the zeitgeist or something!

May 10, 2006 6:03 PM

Google Trends is really cool. Yes, it's yet another google project, but you can compare so much pointless stuff with it!
posted by blacklite (122 comments total)

Argh. The first thing that page did when I opened it on my work-mandated Internet Explorer was crash the 6 IE windows I had open.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 6:12 PM on May 10, 2006

I just checked in it IE and it works for me okay. Sorry about that, not that I coded it, but browser crashes drive me insane.
posted by blacklite at 6:14 PM on May 10, 2006

Here's an interesting one. Note the city order at the bottom. Portland, austin, etc....
posted by anthill at 6:16 PM on May 10, 2006

Mine is funny.
posted by malaprohibita at 6:18 PM on May 10, 2006

Another, sporting related one...
posted by anthill at 6:20 PM on May 10, 2006

heh. Your first query was the first one I thought of.
posted by everichon at 6:21 PM on May 10, 2006

Ummm. NSFW
posted by anthill at 6:21 PM on May 10, 2006

Here's a good one...
posted by Succa at 6:23 PM on May 10, 2006 [1 favorite]

I tried some others, everichon, but it turns out that boingboing is the only similar site we're in relatively direct competition with, if you can call it that.
posted by blacklite at 6:24 PM on May 10, 2006

The hangover one is amusing if you zoom in to a specific month. You can see the weekends. Okay, I'll be quiet now.
posted by blacklite at 6:26 PM on May 10, 2006

Finland enjoys the goatse (SFW)
posted by chiababe at 6:26 PM on May 10, 2006

Just as I thought.
posted by everichon at 6:28 PM on May 10, 2006

Once again the Onion foretold this.
posted by tula at 6:29 PM on May 10, 2006

Heh, it's funny to see emacs steadily decreasing over time like that. It's almost like people realize that it's the bloated stuck-in-the-past piece of shit that it really is. (oops, did I say that out loud?)
posted by Rhomboid at 6:30 PM on May 10, 2006

Worrying trend.
posted by fire&wings at 6:31 PM on May 10, 2006

Make of this what you will.
posted by lekvar at 6:34 PM on May 10, 2006

battle to the death
posted by Rhomboid at 6:34 PM on May 10, 2006

Downward trend in zeitgeists
posted by lekvar at 6:35 PM on May 10, 2006

Bah.
posted by flabdablet at 6:37 PM on May 10, 2006

Haha, the finland <> goatse connection is startling - and disturbing. What's with the Finns? Is it seasonally related?
posted by anthill at 6:38 PM on May 10, 2006

They use the same kind of graph + news stories engine in their finance pages. Very clever to use it here too.
posted by smackfu at 6:39 PM on May 10, 2006

Who knew?
posted by everichon at 6:43 PM on May 10, 2006

Is Seattle in the top ten of every one of these?
posted by baklavabaklava at 6:44 PM on May 10, 2006

This is cool, but I wish there were some reference points on the Y axis.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:46 PM on May 10, 2006

Here we go. I'll stop now.
posted by everichon at 6:46 PM on May 10, 2006

interesting periodicity, though predictable.
posted by Rumple at 6:49 PM on May 10, 2006

WTF
posted by mss at 6:50 PM on May 10, 2006

http://www.google.com/trends?q=beatles%2C+jesus
http://www.google.com/trends?q=beatles%2Celvis
http://www.google.com/trends?q=blur%2Coasis
http://www.google.com/trends?q=french+republic%2Cgerman+empire
http://www.google.com/trends?q=qing%2Ctaiping
http://www.google.com/trends?q=world+of+warcraft%2C+real+life
http://www.google.com/trends?q=van+damme+as+alex+wagner%2Cvan+damme+as+chad+wagner
posted by Kevin1911 at 6:50 PM on May 10, 2006

Awesome.
posted by logicpunk at 6:55 PM on May 10, 2006

One more.
posted by everichon at 6:57 PM on May 10, 2006

This is my favorite thing ever for today.
posted by lekvar at 6:57 PM on May 10, 2006

This one mixes sports and money, with predictable city variations (though I guess Pittsburgh is surprsing).

Also good for celebrity trendspotting.
posted by borborygmi at 6:58 PM on May 10, 2006

This honestly surprised me, but I couldn't give you a reason why.
posted by lekvar at 7:02 PM on May 10, 2006

A dead heat with minor differences that call into question something, I'm sure.
posted by mss at 7:03 PM on May 10, 2006

He still makes more news than his wife...
posted by borborygmi at 7:08 PM on May 10, 2006

Another One
posted by UseyurBrain at 7:11 PM on May 10, 2006

Oh dear.
posted by Jimbob at 7:12 PM on May 10, 2006

What's the deal with that giant peak in Metafilter search volume in first quarter 2004? Error?
posted by graventy at 7:12 PM on May 10, 2006

Every region's got its own disease.
posted by borborygmi at 7:15 PM on May 10, 2006

This appears to be a quick measurement of intelligence by nationality. Or maybe there's some other explanation?
posted by scottreynen at 7:19 PM on May 10, 2006

Look at what the trend is in Washington
posted by Vindaloo at 7:20 PM on May 10, 2006

bush, kerry
mccain, clinton
wilco, son volt
posted by ashcan at 7:21 PM on May 10, 2006

I had kind of the same idea logicpunk:
I see a pattern...
posted by 6am at 7:21 PM on May 10, 2006

Let's get this out the way.
posted by normy at 7:22 PM on May 10, 2006

Poor daffy.
posted by splice at 7:25 PM on May 10, 2006

Poo vs Pee.
posted by Extopalopaketle at 7:25 PM on May 10, 2006

It is too much fun to draw baseless conclusions from this.

1) Finnish people are disproportionately interested in death (what's the connection to the goatse result?)

2) Only Francophones are equally interested in beauty and intelligence
posted by imposster at 7:28 PM on May 10, 2006

[sigh]
ninjas
robots
monkeys
pirates
global warming.

that is all.
posted by Extopalopaketle at 7:29 PM on May 10, 2006

I can't tell if this is significant or not.
posted by lekvar at 7:29 PM on May 10, 2006

I was only surprised by this because all of the top cities are in the U.S. (would've thought eastern Europe/Asia).
posted by Bixby23 at 7:30 PM on May 10, 2006

Good to know.
posted by rollbiz at 7:30 PM on May 10, 2006

2) Only Francophones are equally interested in beauty and intelligence EQUALLY (sorry)
posted by imposster at 7:30 PM on May 10, 2006

I suppose it's 'hotter' in summer. India seems to consistently lead the world in terms of sex searches.

Strange how animal sex searches peak at the end of every month.

Am I the only one to have tried sex searches before everything else?
posted by 6am at 7:32 PM on May 10, 2006

You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
posted by splice at 7:33 PM on May 10, 2006

Mission Accomplished?
posted by rollbiz at 7:35 PM on May 10, 2006

india is interested in armpits Why?
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 7:37 PM on May 10, 2006

3) People from the Philippines have a hard time finding love
(the minus sign operator is great, unless you are really into nipple slips)
posted by imposster at 7:37 PM on May 10, 2006

Dublin is the top city for beauty and intelligence?!

And Birmingham, UK for Star Wars? The location results are funny.
posted by jamesonandwater at 7:39 PM on May 10, 2006

Why so close?
posted by bru at 7:39 PM on May 10, 2006

Ah, St Albans. Personally I expected it to be Luton.
posted by 6am at 7:43 PM on May 10, 2006

Also: fun stuff!
posted by 6am at 7:44 PM on May 10, 2006

Strange how animal sex searches peak at the end of every month.

I don't know if I really want to open this topic any more than you already have, but uh, what you're actually looking at is weeks. Animal sex searches peak every Saturday, from that chart.
posted by blacklite at 7:49 PM on May 10, 2006

Sparx vs Smurfs.

those little blue bastards kick my arse everywhere except Slovakia and Paris. What's that all about?
posted by Sparx at 7:50 PM on May 10, 2006

ok, whatever, egyptians.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 7:52 PM on May 10, 2006

the minus sign operator

Good idea. I also used the or operator, |, (it is my favourite) to fix some stuff linked above:

hilary|hillary clinton, bill clinton
democrat|democratic, republican|gop

On catch-up: beautiful, 6am.
posted by blacklite at 7:52 PM on May 10, 2006

I thought I'd post a few just for the hell of it
posted by WhipSmart at 7:53 PM on May 10, 2006

Web 2.0 never made it to Malaysia.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:01 PM on May 10, 2006

Sign o' the times
[Please, tell me: how do I stop?]
posted by imposster at 8:03 PM on May 10, 2006

Thanks Blacklite, think vulnerable:

Bless.

Awww.

Oooh...
posted by 6am at 8:04 PM on May 10, 2006

A very sad indictment of our times.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:05 PM on May 10, 2006

Yikes. "How to" searches are a wealth of humanity.
posted by 6am at 8:08 PM on May 10, 2006

Chicago always seems to be at the top of the depressing ones.
posted by blacklite at 8:09 PM on May 10, 2006

Excuse me ... Indonesia never even wonders about Web 2.0, but Malaysia does. I guess it's just Kuala Lumpur which is in the digital dark age.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:09 PM on May 10, 2006

Ahh - turns out I'm a discotheque in Bratislava. They have 'illegal night'. I am so there.



Thanks blacklite - I did not realise how badly I needed to know this. Hooray!
posted by Sparx at 8:12 PM on May 10, 2006

Pike!
posted by Balisong at 8:19 PM on May 10, 2006

This is funny, more for the news results than for the actual stats. anal, vaginal NSFW if someone is reading over your shoulder.
posted by Grod at 8:26 PM on May 10, 2006

Hopefully I get this stuck in all your heads.
posted by daninnj at 8:27 PM on May 10, 2006

WMD is a good one.
posted by johngoren at 8:28 PM on May 10, 2006

I can't believe the fun of it finally wore off.
posted by imposster at 8:33 PM on May 10, 2006

"As long as there's, you know, sex and drugs, I can do without the rock and roll.
posted by Cookiebastard at 8:46 PM on May 10, 2006

Huh?

Check out this correlation.

Bushisms and scandals.

Global warming v. Terrorism

TV seasons are prominent. Other seasonal effects.
posted by rafter at 8:55 PM on May 10, 2006

Dave vs. Jay
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 8:56 PM on May 10, 2006

what do we really want?
posted by pinespree at 8:57 PM on May 10, 2006

johngoren: "WMD is a good one."


WMD vs. Saddam Hussein.
posted by rafter at 8:58 PM on May 10, 2006

UbuRoivas: A very sad indictment of our times.

"portobello mushroom" is rather redundant. Most people I would know would just search for portobello which works fine.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 8:58 PM on May 10, 2006

A dead heat. NSFW?
posted by rafter at 8:59 PM on May 10, 2006

google's stemming algorithms don't seem to be used here. possibly NSFW example.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 9:20 PM on May 10, 2006

MSN: clearly you too are a victim of the declining education of the youth

UR: understated brilliance
posted by imposster at 9:46 PM on May 10, 2006

"manchester united","real madrid",arsenal,azzurri
posted by everichon at 9:52 PM on May 10, 2006

nintendo, playstation, xbox
posted by Demogorgon at 10:11 PM on May 10, 2006

holding steady
posted by delmoi at 10:27 PM on May 10, 2006

oh man, I was busy last November. I completely missed the attack of the unidentifiable mushrooms. Thanks, imposster.
posted by blacklite at 10:34 PM on May 10, 2006

I was only surprised by this because all of the top cities are in the U.S. (would've thought eastern Europe/Asia).

People don't need to search for google. Think about it.
posted by delmoi at 10:36 PM on May 10, 2006

People apparently only use math during the school year.
posted by epugachev at 11:18 PM on May 10, 2006

The Spice Girls still seem to have some popularity, and a bunch from Canada. But why is Baby Spice sought after only in Toronto and Montreal but not not in Vancouver?
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 11:23 PM on May 10, 2006

i think i see it sticking out (explains MonkeySatledNuts too).

i thought so

gee, every january

and seriously out of date -- what is this, google images?
posted by dhartung at 11:44 PM on May 10, 2006

not going to link it, but COKE VS. PEPSI. It's a close race but Coke is clearly winning.
posted by Parannoyed at 12:34 AM on May 11, 2006

The really weird thing about Pinespree's example is the sudden jump in "free porn" in late 2005.

Also, since it's finals time. (at least in the US)
posted by thecaddy at 12:58 AM on May 11, 2006

Also, since it's finals time. (at least in the US)

If you do "cliff notes" instead of "cliffs notes," (the "s" does belong there according to Wiki) the two lines match up better. Note that in 2004, CN was ahead of SN, but in 05 SN pulled ahead. A new era?
posted by epugachev at 1:49 AM on May 11, 2006

epugachev:
As I , noted above, google does not seem to be stemming for the trends. You need to disjoin the possible spelling variants. These give different results: cliff|cliffs|cliff's notes, cliff|cliffs notes, cliff notes.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 2:10 AM on May 11, 2006

We're no good.
posted by tula at 2:14 AM on May 11, 2006

Cheese Eating
Surrender
French Military Victories
posted by patricio at 2:41 AM on May 11, 2006

Why the parallel downward trend here, I wonder?
posted by primer_dimer at 3:15 AM on May 11, 2006

Disturbing recent rise in panic?
posted by infobomb at 5:30 AM on May 11, 2006

Why would most searches for the word "sex" be in arabic?
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:39 AM on May 11, 2006

Meh, the first thing I tried to search for was a list of 6 things; it can only cope with 5.
posted by TheDonF at 6:27 AM on May 11, 2006

Uh oh, Billy ...
posted by Chomskyfied at 9:14 AM on May 11, 2006

not a lot of meaningful information here.
posted by signal at 9:37 AM on May 11, 2006

Apples to oranges.
posted by Demogorgon at 10:27 AM on May 11, 2006

on my fifth (unsuccessful due to low results) search for common oceanographic systems i got:

" We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google. "
posted by 3.2.3 at 1:21 PM on May 11, 2006

On most of the above links, I'm now getting:

We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.

Looks like this meme blowed up.
posted by intermod at 1:25 PM on May 11, 2006

doh.
posted by intermod at 1:26 PM on May 11, 2006

got the same message. Doesn't seem to like more than five or six uses in a row.

However, I did discover Paris Hilton is surprisingly popular in Venezuela.
posted by Quiplash at 2:01 PM on May 11, 2006

Your terms - google trends - do not have enough search volume to show graphs.
posted by doogyrev at 7:04 PM on May 11, 2006

On the relative merits of Carrot Top and Pauly Shore
posted by cortex at 8:22 PM on May 11, 2006

Comparing "make love" and "war" is totally not fair, dhartung.

Love beats war. :D

Also, it's working for me now, so maybe it was just an intermittent problem that you guys experienced earlier today.
posted by blacklite at 8:39 PM on May 11, 2006

Interesting. Sometimes at work, I get that Google message about computer virus or spyware. But in my case, I always get a CAPTCHA to prove I'm human.
posted by smackfu at 8:42 PM on May 11, 2006

Note to self do not drive in Littleton.
posted by Mr_Zero at 4:57 AM on May 12, 2006

constitution, bill of rights, ten commandments
posted by Mr_Zero at 7:24 AM on May 12, 2006

This one makes this football fan happy.
posted by darren at 9:52 AM on May 12, 2006

ye-har eat loneliness Ireland
posted by doogyrev at 5:03 PM on May 15, 2006

One thing I wished they add is the scale. Does not have to be too accurate, but would you want to know whether what you are looking at is 100s, 100s, millions?
posted by psq at 12:39 AM on May 22, 2006