Google unveils Hot Trends feature
Google Inc. has launched Hot Trends, a new feature on the Google Trends report that offers a list of the top 100 fastest-rising Google search queries in the United States.
Users can select specific dates to see what the top-rising searches were at a given time.
Hot Trends provides an up-to-date snapshot of what's on searchers' collective mind, from current events and daily crossword puzzle clues to 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.
The No. 2 result on May 15, for instance, was "I Who Have Nothing." Pertinent news articles and blog results showed that this was the title of a song that was performed on American Idol earlier that evening. Associated Web search results showed this was originally a song made popular by Shirley Bassey in 1963.
In addition to viewing the top countries and cities that searched for a term, users can view the top "sub regions" - states in the U.S., for example - across 70 countries.
Users can compare the leading presidential candidates around the country, for example, or find out what region in France is crazy about cognac.
The new features in Google Trends are available at www.google.com/trends . The expanded list is available at www.google.com/trends/hottrends .
