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Google Zeitgeist 2008
bahstid writes "As the year comes to a close, it's time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times. While the global aggregated results are what one might expect, the breakdown by country is filled with 'hotmail,' 'yahoo' and 'facebook,' indicating that in 2008 your average user still hasn't quite grasped this address bar thing."
This year's focus on the US presidential election and the economic crisis made for some interesting trends. It also seems that many Americans frequently checked their Facebook profile while watching American Idol and wondering who Sarah Palin was.
Its good to see so many non-english fast risers like, tuenti, wer kennt wen and nasza-klasa. Whatever they are...
Really, what needs to happen nowadays is that Google should separate those "keywords" that exactly match the top-returned URL... then we'd have a better idea of what people are actually *searching* for, versus what they're just trying to access.
FSM, grant me the serenity to preview that which I cannot change...
I've been doing a podcast based on the Google Trends, which the Zeitgeist is directly related to, for almost 1.5 years now and I must say, watching the trends weekly (and daily) is an interesting exercise. We actually go through and try to find why things were searched for, and while 90% of the terms are based on TV shows (Predominately Extreme Home Makeover and House), the few that are from other sources (xkcd pops up occasionally, as does Google's ever-changing logo) are where the fun lies. That, and the searches for stuff like "Hot Karl" and "Anal Fissures."
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
is filled with 'hotmail,' 'yahoo' and 'facebook'
My roommate had a good one the other day.
He said, "If you get on YouTube and Google for this video..."
I... knew what he meant.
Really? Why don't they use the bookmark toolbar? Maybe I'm overestimating the capabilities of the average user, and most people don't customize the browser enough to even add a bookmark?
-- http://ninthagenda.com/
Never heard of keyword search?
To translate a word, I type Ctrl-L and then "dict someword" ENTER.
For Wikipedia I have "wiki sometopic" and "wikie sometopic" for the English Wikipedia.
Oh, I also use Yakuake, and I have a special button on my keyboard for it.
So for when Firefox is not running, I press that button, type "wiki sometopic" or "dict sometopic" and Firefox opens with that search.
Yakuake even automatically retracts when Firefox opens.
I have this for YouTube (yt=, btjunkie (bt), wikipedia (wiki, wikie), dict.leo.org (dict, dico), price comparison (preis), recipes (rezept), urban dictionary (ud), and others. I did not see the front pages of those sites for months or even years.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Better yet, they could separate out the queries that are coming from Firefox URL bars instead of a search box. Is there any way to tell which is which on Google's end, or do they both use the same protocol? Would the fact that they jump straight to "I'm feeling lucky" be enough, or does the FF URL bar just do exactly what a user would do?
Yes, particularly for two reasons:
1) It protects you from typos. If you miss a character, it's immediately obvious before you've helped out a typo squatter.
2) It often gives you options to select certain topics within a given site, allowing you to more easily navigate to the portion of the site you actually want.
You are nowhere near lazy enough. 'w' => Wikipedia, 'g' => Google search, "gi" => Google image search, 'f' => Flickr, 'd' => dictionary, ...
But yeah, shortcuts or keyword searches are the way to go.
Maybe not
The front-end machines at Google have a set of canned replies for common queries. Most queries to Google are in fact answered by the first front-end machine reached, without invoking the main search engine at all. The size of the front-end cache is considered proprietary, but it's not huge.
Most queries just aren't very original.
It's kind of strange when someone you've met at a barbecue shows up in a spam e-mail.
I don't think your invisible friend wants you trolling for flame wars.
Most of the research I did personally on religion long before I saw the movie corroborates his views almost exactly.
I think the movie "9/11 Mysteries" does a much better job than "Zeitgeist" in regards to section two, however.
As to section three, well, it's pure speculation, tacked on a little poorly at the end, kind of like your "Revelations". Though not done nearly as poorly as old John did those.
But it's good you know who not to talk to and then talk anyway. At least part of your cerebral cortex is still functioning, and you might actually LEARN something somewhere along the way.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
When the kids here want to go to facebook (or more likely runescape) on one of several computers in the house where it's not bookmarked, I've taught them to just google it - using the search box next to the address bar.
This is to prevent typos.
It applies doubly so to the flash game site of the week where neither they nor I am sure of the correct domain name.
more of the same on Twitter.
They might be separating out queries. AFAIK, there's a "source=..." or the like attached to Firefox-UI searches, and the language on the Zeitgeist page says "our search team studied the aggregation of billions of search queries people typed in to the Google search box".
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.