Reading Google’s Tea Leaves

teareading.jpgMatt Dickman, author of the most excellent Techno//Marketer blog referred me to one of the coolest links I’ve found in a while. It’s called “Google Hot Trends” and it’s an hourly update of the most Googled terms. Fascinating because you can find out all sorts of things, from who’s being traded before the NBA trade deadline, who’s having Jason Kidd’s baby, and which congressman is being indicted. It’s one of the ways that search, and the analysis thereof, is changing the way we approach advertising and marketing. Because rather than rely on the specious output of Nielson families or million dollar focus groups, we get uncensored, unbiased accounts of what people are doing when they are not conscious of being monitored or watched. The possibilities are endless for this sort of research, but in the meantime, it’s a fun way to keep abreast of the news and to see how many of terms you recognize before you click on them.Well at least for a nerd like me, it is.Â