As gas prices have continued to climb, topping $4 in many parts of the U.S., one fuel retailer is harnessing to power of social media to bring in customers. Murphy USA, a gas station chain located adjacent to Walmarts and …

It’s usually fun to see what’s on everybody’s mind by looking at Google Trends. Today, no so much, because gas is on their minds, and hurricanes, and not necessarily in that order, depending on where you live.

In Texas, or near Texas, or if people have loved ones in Texas, they’re searching for news of Hurricane Ike, which is destined for landfall in Galveston. The rest of the country, while no doubt very concerned for their countrymen are also concerned about spiking gas prices as the hurricane makes for oil refineries.

People took a harder look at shopping in June 2008 and quite a few decided the savings would be worth the wait for delivery from an online business.

With gas prices hitting record highs a new service is hoping to offer U.S. drivers some relief when they fill up at the pump.

A new Miami-based company, MyGallons.com is offering consumers the chance to purchase gasoline at current prices and then fill up later when prices will be inevitably higher.

Their queries may not yield more than a couple of cents difference in price, but even that adds up enough to compel people to search for gas price comparisons.

As the temperature rises so are gas prices. AAA is offering consumers tips on how to save gas as well as fuel information at two of their Web sites.

One might think the rise in US gas prices would spur people to race to the Web for pricing information and hybrid car details. One would be wrong to think these things.

Online driving direction and map finder MapQuest has added tools to help people find per-gallon prices that do the least damage to one’s bank account.

Gas prices reaching $2.90-$3.00 per gallon appear are the boiling point that pushes consumers onto the Internet to research some peace of mind, according Hitwise. Searches for [gas prices] and [hybrid] soar at those prices, as does traffic to energy sites.