What is Google zeitgeist? Searching for Trends and Popularity on the Internet
What is Google zeitgeist? Searching for Trends and Popularity on the Internet
Google’s site defines zeitgeist “as, “zeit·geist | Pronunciation: ‘tsIt-“gIst, ‘zIt | Function: noun | Etymology: German, from Zeit (time) + Geist (spirit) | Date: 1884 | Meaning: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era. “Zeitgeist” means “the spirit of the times”, and Google reveals this spirit through the aggregation of millions of search queries we receive every day. We have several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends. These tools are available for you to play with, explore, and learn from. Use them for everything from business research to trivia answers.”
If you click here, you can reach the Google zeitgeist site. Once there, you have access to the following search site links:
Website Trends
I tend to set up the Google news search function in iGoogle to find out about buzz words and things I am interested in at the time. However, these sites can help you find out even more about what people really are searching for on the Internet. I like the “insight for searches” because you can create lists of specific words to find out popularity of topics in different regions. Hot trends can also be helpful to give you an idea of what is popular throughout the day.