Google Zeitgeist 2009

Google Zeitgeist is what Google calls snapshots of search trends, and it's a really interesting look at what kind of things fascinate Americans enough to search for things in droves. Someone from Google was on the Today show this morning to talk about the Zeitgeist for 2009, though that has not been updated in the Google archives as of yet. Not surprisingly, Lady Gaga, Twitter, and swine flu were among the fastest rising searches this past year, with Lady Gaga being the fastest rising in Google images searches (Um, yeah cause she looks so different with every appearance, I don't think anyone knows what she really looks like).

Update: Google Zeitgeist 2009

Around this time of year, food happens to be a big search term, and Google found that comfort foods (like chili and meatloaf) were a trend. That reminded me of something I saw this past weekend that I thought was so cool: The New York Times posted a geographic breakdown of Thanksgiving food related searches on Allrecipies.com. "Sweet potato casserole" was the most searched term nationwide, but it's interesting to see where the queries for different things come from. The breakdown raises a couple of questions, like if something isn't being searched for as much in one area, is it cause fewer people in that area are making the dish, or they already know how to make it? It's so interesting to scroll through.