Yossi Matias9 minutes ago

We are excited to have now Top Charts in Google Trends. A sort-of monthly "zeitgeist" going back in time. 1    0 Powered by socialditto

So far, you can look at charts for: Actors, Animals, Athletes, Authors, Baseball Players, Baseball Teams, Basketball Players, Basketball Teams, Books, Business People, Car Companies, Cars, Chemical Elements, Cities, Cocktails, Colleges/Universities, Countries/Regions, DJs, Dog Breeds, Drinks, Energy Companies, Fashion Brands, Financial Companies, Foods, Games, Government Bodies, Kids’ TV, Medications, Movies, Musical Artists, People, Politicians, Quick Service Restaurants, Reality Shows, Retail Companies, Scientists, Soccer Players, Soccer Teams, Software Technologies, Songs, Space Objects, Sports Cars, Sports Teams, TV Shows, Teen Pop Artists, US Governors, and Whiskeys.

Each category lets you dive into a top ten list, with information about each subject, including how long they’ve been in the chart, the change by month, and when they peaked. You can also explore interest over time, regional interest and related terms for each subject.

Right now, the feature is only available in the U.S., but Google says more countries are coming soon.

Google

Here are the top five most searched Oscar nominees, according to Google:

“At the end of the show, Best Picture winner ‘Argo’ held the #6 spot, followed by Ang Lee, Christoph Waltz, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ and Halle Berry,” notes Google software engineer Nemo Tamir.

Google also shared the most searched red carpet dresses:

“This year’s Oscars brought with it a number of unexpected moments that grabbed our attention,” said Tamir. “Early in the show, Seth MacFarlane was visited by William Shatner in full Captain Kirk regalia, come from the future to save Seth’s monologue; at 8:36pm ET, searches for [kirk] spiked to almost 1,500 per minute. Later in the show, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ and ‘Skyfall’ tied for sound editing, and people flocked to the web with questions. Searches for [tie] spiked to more than 5,000 per minute, with many people wanting to know [has there ever been a tie in the oscars]. And in a final surprise, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced the Best Picture nominees and opened the winning envelope for ‘Argo.’ Searches for [michelle obama] spiked to 4,500 per minute.”

Twitter

“All in all, there were 8.9 million Tweets about the 85th Academy Awards: 2.1 million during the red carpet, and 6.8 million during the awards show. People at home (and in the audience) tweeted as the night’s most exciting and entertaining moments unfolded,” says Twitter’s Fred Graver.

More Twitter stats:

Best Picture award for Argo: 85,300 TPM
Adele performs “Skyfall”: 82,300 TPM
Best Actress in a Leading Role for Jennifer Lawrence: 71,600 TPM
Best Original Song for Adele: 64,000 TPM
Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Anne Hathaway: 60,400 TPM

Facebook

Facebook says Oscars buzz was at an all time high on the social network this year. According to the company there were 66.5 million Oscar-related interactions on Facebook.

“The event scored a 7.17 on the Facebook Talk Meter, trumping last year’s awards ceremony, and we saw the most buzz in the Northeast (New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Connecticut) followed by California,” says Facebook data analyst Allie Townsend. “‘Oscars’ received three times more mentions this year, while the Best Picture nominees racked up twenty times more mentions than 2012. ‘Les Miserables’ had the most Likes of this year’s top films, and despite being set in France, the film’s largest body of fans are in London. It was also the favorite film among women and people ages 13 to 17.”

Django Unchained, however, got the most mentions, Townsend says. It was the “clear Best Picture Choice” among men, she says.

“Best Picture ‘Argo’ was the most-talked about winner of the night, as mentions of the film increased by 2,460% and mentions of Ben Affleck increased by 23,500% as the director, star and producer made his acceptance speech,” says Townsend. “Affleck also launched his new Instagram account from the red carpet and shared behind-the-scenes photos throughout the night, including this one of his name being engraved on Oscar trophy itself.”

Facebook put out the following infographic looking at the trends:

1. M&M’s
2. Beyonce
3. Baltimore Ravens
4. San Francisco 49ers
5. Colin Kaepernick

Very interesting that “power outage” didnt’t make the list, though Google does mention it as another noteworthy trend. I guess it only had half a game to work with. Ultimately, it ended up ranking eighth out fo the most-searched terms during game time.

Beyonce searches spiked during the halftime show, of course. Searches for Chrysler spiked after the brand’s fourth quarter commercial, Google says.

Google software engineer Jeffrey Oldham says, “As they did in the game, the Ravens narrowly beat out the 49ers as the most-searched team during the game on Google. The most-searched players of the game were Colin Kaepernick, Joe Flacco, Michael Oher, David Akers and Jacoby Jones—thanks to his 108-yard kickoff return.”

“The Harbaugh brothers’ on-field battle has been one of the big stories of the game, so it’s no surprise that viewers took to the web to find more information on these coaches,” he adds. “While John Harbaugh took home the trophy, Jim was the most-searched brother on Google.”

Searches for Super Bowl ads on Google were 55 times higher on Sunday than they were for the same time the previous Sunday. The most searched-for ads were from: M&M’s, Mercedes-Benz, Disney’s “Oz Great and Powerful,” Lincoln, and Audi. Searches for “Gangnam Style” also trended on YouTube, as did searches for Beyonce and Alicia Keys, who sang the National Anthem.

Yahoo also shared some insight into what people were searching for during the Super Bowl on its search engine. Searches spiked for “why did the lights go out,” “superdome power outage,” and “what caused power outage”.

Here’s the top ad-related searches from Yahoo:

1. [dodge super bowl commercial] (God Made A Farmer) – up 1722% during the game on Yahoo!
2. [taco bell commercial]
3. [go daddy commercial]
4. [doritos goat commercial]
5. [Budweiser commercial]
6. [banned skittles commercial]
7. [tide super bowl commercial]
8. [calvin klein commercial]
9. [jeep commercial]
10. [oreo super bowl commercial
11. [kia super bowl commercial]
12. [mercedes commercial] The new car buzzed 3570% on Yahoo!
13. [soda stream commercial] – the soda stream spiked 5244% on Yahoo!

According to Yahoo, Bar Refaeli was the most buzzed about celebrity featured in a commercial followed by Kate Upton, Kaley Cuoco, Stevie Wonder, Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. Rogen spiked by 1,045% on Yahoo, while Rudd searches spiked by 668% and Kate Upton searches spiked by 152%.

Fast & The Furious 6 got the most buzz for movie trailers, spiking 827% on Yahoo, followed by World War Z at 78%.

Searches for “beyonce super bowl 2013″ spiked 7,236% on Sunday, searches for Jennifer Hudson spiked 10,802%, and searches for Destiny’s Child spiked 4,000%.

Other noteworthy Super Bowl Sunday search trends from Yahoo:

Super Bowl Related “How To” | “Who Is” Questions on Yahoo!

[super bowl blackout]
[super bowl lights out]
[super dome]
[beyonce super bowl]
[super bowl winners]
[superbowl food ideas]
[super bowl snack ideas]
[super bowl bets]
[superbowl kick off time]
[super bowl halftime show]
[what time is super bowl]
[vegas super bowl odds]
[super bowl history]
[super bowl squares]
[puppy bowl]
[puppybowl lineup]

No, not football, silly. I’m talking about #MacroMonday on Google+.

#MacroMonday is currently trending on the social network (and it’s not the first time), and users are sharing their favorite macro images. Macro photography, as it’s known in this regard, is the art of taking extreme close-up photos of small things. This usually produces a photo where the subject is larger than life.

Some Google+ users are letting people know what they’re looking at, and some would rather have you guess. Either way, sit back and enjoy some of the best posts from this week’s #MacroMonday. Apparently, this week’s unofficial theme is “things you’d find in a home office”

Patrik Petterson7 minutes ago

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Alex Jessup15 minutes ago

#macromonday#macro#cort#closeup Do you know what this #macromonday shot it of?

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Brian Grzelewski25 minutes ago

I don't know where you come up with the ideas for these themes.  But, they are wonderfully diverse!  Keep up the…

March of the Ideas

for #macromonday  curated by the imaginative ladies: +Kelli Seeger Kim +Kerry Murphy and +Jennifer Eden 

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Nick Gatens19 minutes ago

Long night last night, but I couldn't miss a #MacroMonday  now could I? This week's mini-theme is "things you'd find in a home office" – so I grabbed the first thing I could find when I made it home this morning. I don't know about you, but I loves me some staples. 

—
Curated by +Kerry Murphy, +Jennifer Eden and +Kelli Seeger Kim!

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Levar Jackson44 minutes ago

"Bottled"

#macromonday by +Kelli Seeger Kim+Kerry Murphy+Jennifer Eden  +Macro Monday#macrophotography#macrophoto#blackandwhitephotography   Special thanks to +Visual Renaissance 

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Maya Beachley23 minutes ago

#macromonday Have a colourful week!

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Len Erdner35 minutes ago

Reshare from July 30 for #macromonday curated by +Kelli Seeger Kim  +Jennifer Eden  and +Kerry Murphy
Theme: "Something You'd Find In A Home Office"

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Kerry Murphy35 minutes ago

Happy Macro Monday macro fans.  In case you missed it, the sub theme this week is Things You'd Find In A Home Office

Tag your posts #MacroMonday  and + mention the curators, +Kelli Seeger Kim, +Jennifer Eden and me!

Planning For Retirement

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Rob B.20 minutes ago

#macromonday   In to the abyss…

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Chris Levers1 hour ago

Quitting Time???

#MacroMonday
Curated by: +Kerry Murphy +Jennifer Eden +Kelli Seeger Kim

#BritishPhotographers#MacroPhotography#ukphotographycommunity
#EOGPhotography

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Various 2012 (10 photos)1    1 Powered by socialditto

Jacob Stiffler1 hour ago

A mosquito taking it easy… 

#macromonday  +Macro Monday 
#naturemonday  +NatureMonday 
#moodymonday  +Moody Monday 

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Dana Hermanová6 hours ago

Yes, useful … Connection …
For #MacroMonday+Macro Monday+Jennifer Eden+Kerry Murphy+Kelli Seeger Kim theme: Something You'd Find In A Home Office

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Here’s a sampling of some of the breathtaking wildlife photos that people are sharing on Google’s social network, and they’re pouring in very rapidly (especially for Google+).

HostelBookers4 hours ago

#wildlifewednesday  +Wildlife Wednesdays How cute is this little cub and its parents? 
Photo by David_Lazar

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Kimmo Vornanen2 minutes ago

Ready for Takeoff (picture of the day)

One more dragonfly close up. This is possibly Punasyyskorento (Sympetrum vulgatum) female. But I am not absolutely sure.
This is for the #WildlifeWednesday  curated by +Morkel Erasmus and +Mike Spinak
..

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Claudia MacUser1 minute ago

All green.

For #wildlifewednesday by +Mike Spinak+Morkel Erasmus 

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Jaz Hands!3 minutes ago

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Jaz Hands!4 minutes ago

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Chanchal Bhatia4 hours ago

Just a paper bird…..nothing special
#wildlifewednesday  

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Richard Hicks45 minutes ago

#WildLifeWednesday  curated by +Morkel Erasmus +Mike Spinak  #Colorado  

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Debra Ulrich7 minutes ago

#WildlifeWednesday#Funny#Elephant#Photo#Quote    

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Garry McCarthy2 hours ago

Harbor Seal Pup Nursing
La Jolla, California
#wildlifewednesday  curated by +Mike Spinak & +Morkel Erasmus 

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Vinaya Dass6 hours ago

Flamingo
Caught this guy at a local zoo

For #wildlifewednesday+Wildlife Wednesdays curated by +Morkel Erasmus , +Mike Spinak ; #waterbirdwednesday+Water Bird Wednesday curated by +Ray Bilcliff , +Margaret Tompkins+Sherry McBriar

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Jaz Emminger56 seconds ago

#wildlifewednesday  

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Jaz Hands! originally shared:
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Canoodle.com2 hours ago

Gorgeous picture for #wildlifewednesday .
Enjoy, friends!

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Car Parts Warehouse3 hours ago

He loves his veggies #wildlifewednesday  

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Derailed2 hours ago

Here's some perspective for you… #WildlifeWednesday

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Kendall Seabury2 hours ago

aawwwwww

#WildlifeWednesday  

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Travis Ace4 hours ago

Hippo kiss for #wildlifewednesday  

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Clearly, there are a lot of fans on Google’s social network, though Google itself seems to prefer Star Trek.

Peter Smalley1 hour ago

#starwarstuesday  

Buy a vowel, Luke.

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Peter Smalley1 hour ago

#starwarstuesday  

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty…"

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Star Wars Tuesday9 hours ago

WONDERFUL!
#starwarstuesday  
http://pinterest.com/pin/104708760057310067/

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Rebel Squadrons11 days ago

Now THAT is a pimp landspeeder!

(via https://pinterest.com/pin/208643395207706726/)

#starwars   #landspeeder  

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Peter Smalley3 minutes ago

#starwarstuesday  

'Cuz.

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Ana Freitas22 minutes ago

#starwarstuesday  

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Peter Smalley1 hour ago

#starwarstuesday  

Storm Trooper's Day Off

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Krystyn Chong7 hours ago

Happy Hour

Have a great #starwarstuesday
everyone!

#beero#nomimase#beer!

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The Nerd Code1 day ago

#starwars  and for tomorrow: #starwarstuesday  

The Sandtrooper

Source: http://bit.ly/QfjhsA

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Peter Smalley1 hour ago

#starwarstuesday   #normanrockwell  

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Julie Caouette2 hours ago

#starwarstuesday  

Via Stephanie Chambers on +Pinterest .

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John Byerrum56 minutes ago

#starwarstuesday  

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The Nerd Code14 days ago

#starwarstuesday  could also be  #startrektuesday

Resistance is not futile!

Source: http://bit.ly/OUIrhS

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Daf Griffiths13 days ago

I think I just had a nerdgasm!

#starwarstuesday#starwars#geek#awesome

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Terence Towles Canote2 hours ago

For you Matt Smith fans, another #WhosDay#StarWarsTuesday mash up. #DoctorWho  

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Robert Partridge1 hour ago

+Bliss Morgan  #BlissAllTheThings   #StarWarsTuesday  

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Star Wars Tuesday4 hours ago

LOVE THIS ONE!
#moon   #starwarstuesday  
http://pinterest.com/pin/104708760057516709/

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Yes, actually post – not simply comment on another user’s post or share another user’s post, but create your own post on the topic for which you searched. They say it’s all about “starting conversations,” making it so that it’s easier for users to join the discussion about certain topics in real-time.

Here’s what they had to say:

Today we’re introducing a new feature that lets you share directly from Google+ search results, and contribute to a topical Google+ stream. For example, if you search for basketball and then want to make a post about how your favorite team or player is doing, you can share right from the search results.

Just look for the sharebox after searching on Google+, and you’ll see an opportunity to “join the discussion” about whatever you’ve searched for.

When you post from the search results page, it automatically includes a link back to the original search stream. This way others can join the active conversation as it unfolds.

When you search a topic (in this case “SOPA”) within Google+, you’ll now see a new box above the activity stream. It will prompt you to “Join the discussion” about your topic. From there, you can make a post – photo, link, video, plain text, whatever.

Each post made from the search results include a link back to the activity stream on the specific topic – they’ll say “Shared from the Google+ ________ stream.” Presumably, this will prompt others to join in on the conversation about hot, trending topics.

Considering that Google is adding more Google+ content to regular Google searches in order to “personalize” these results (Search Plus Your World), is it only a matter of time before people can post to their Google+ page straight from the the main Google SERP?

When Google itself comes out with predictions for where search is headed, things get even more interesting. This is obviously because Google is such a huge and critical part of the search landscape. Google’s Matt Cutts discussed some of his own predictions for search in a recent upload to Google’s Webmaster Central YouTube channel.

One thing Matt stressed is that Google is always looking for new types of data to search. He gave examples of searching email with Gmail, books with Google Book Search, and patents with Google Patent search. He predicts Google will continue this trend and find more data sources to provide search functionality for.

Another prediction he gave was that Google will continue to improve search over harder problems. Specifically, he noted things like determining what is really going on with the words in documents and in queries – semantic search if you will.

"A lot of people think that if you type in ‘A B C,’ all Google does is crawl the web and return pages that match ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C’. And that’s not it," says Cutts. "We do a lot of sophisticated stuff. Think about synonyms, morphology…all sorts of ways where we can kind of find out, ‘oh, this is really related to them conceptually.’ Whether you want to call it semantic stuff or statistical processing, we do a lot of stuff to try and return relevant documents."

As part of this prediction, Cutts says Google will continue trying to find new ways to extract "good data" from the web. He mentions Google Squared (which is still in an experimental stage)  as an example of doing so. Google Squared, in Google’s words, takes a category and creates a starter ‘square’ of information, automatically fetching and organizing facts from across the web.

Cutts also predicts that people will get more comfortable with storing their data in the cloud. He expects more people will migrate their data from their hard drives to different cloud services, and that this will make it easier and better for search, and contribute to the delivery of more relevant results.

He also mentions real-time and mobile as playing significant roles in the future or search. No surprise there.

"It’s going to be a lot of fun. Search is nowhere near done, and every time we make search better, people ask us harder and harder questions, " he says. "So the nice thing is knowing that we’ll pretty much always have more to do to make search better."

Cutts recently discussed the possibility that page speed could play a role in search engine rankings. He made no mention of this in this set of predictions, but that is another thing to consider as we get ready to move into 2010.

What predictions do you have for search? Any that Matt didn’t go into? Discuss here.

Related Articles:

> Google Testing a Revamp of the Search Results Page

> Google Puts Its Own Dictionary in the Spotlight

> Critical Local Search Factors To Pay Attention To

In case you are unfamiliar with Google’s Hot Trends, it is a feature of Google Labs that shows you the top terms that Google users are searching for at any given time. You can also search the feature for any query and find how that query has performed for any set period of time over the years. It will show you analytical data on that, including the regions where the term is searched for the most.

Google has also reduced the number of trends on the Hot Trends homepage from 100 to 40. However, the new feature will still reflect the top 100. The feature is available in the US and Japan. Google makes no mention of when it may become available for other regions.

Google’s addition of the hot trends box on results page has already drawn comparisons to Twitter, for the simple fact that Twitter provides its trending topics list. Both features highlight the attention being paid to the real-time web by both users and industry players.

Google has steadily been making changes to its results pages. The biggest change this year was the addition of  "search options." More recently, they increased the font size, and began adding more links based on anchors on pages that have clear sections on different topics (Google tells you how to optimize for that here).

The series premiere of The Office will make its Hulu debut on Friday September 18th, but It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans will unfortunately have to wait until Friday September 25th to catch the premiere of the show’s fifth season on the site. Once it makes its appearance, however, I would expect plenty of views (and ad views).

Web searchers are obviously awaiting both of these shows, as they both appear in Google’s Hot Trends list at the time of this writing. "Sunny" is at number 24, surprisingly way ahead of The Office, which is at 93.

Way up at number 8, however, is "thursday night football schedule," indicating what people really want to watch tonight. The only game on tonight is Georgia Tech vs. Miami on ESPN (and on the web at ESPN360.com), but I would expect it to get pretty good ratings, if the amount of web interest in football is any indication.

Last month, football-related sites saw some of the biggest gains in web traffic, as shown by the Compete 250. NFL.com ranked among the month’s biggest gainers, growing 123% and reaching 6.5 million unique visitors, while individual team sites saw tremendous uptick, and fantasy football sites attracted 43.8% more traffic than in July.