Google Trends

I have not been written about Google for some time. They are making progress on many fronts. Recently launched Google Trends service is a significant milestone. Before Trends, Google was indexing external data. They were just an index to information created elsewhere. With the launch of the Trends, suddenly they added a lot of the information to the Internet. While Google does not own nor has any rights to the information they index, Trends is their own data. By using the Google services we all agree to their terms. And among other things be aware that "Google's servers automatically record information when you visit our website or use some of our products, including the URL, IP address, browser type and language, and the date and time of your request.". By doing that they are able to deliver great new product without touching your privacy.

Trends is really great and my perception is we are still far away from its full potential. Just give it a try. For example, look how the bird flu fever has been calming down. Or see how Windows Mobile is taking over Symbian. Or the Linux hype going down.

There are plenty of very, very interesting trends to be spotted. For example: what the Internet, tires and Poland have in common? In Polish "tires" is "opony". So let us try to execute this query: http://www.google.com/trends?q=tyres%2C+opony. You should be getting two trend lines. The top (blue) is the worldwide accumulated search for "tires". The bottom (red) is the search for "opony". Two exceptional behaviors can be spotted here. First there are significant red peaks. Second, the peak amount of searches for "opony" reaches the amount of searches for tires. Explanation? Not so difficult if you live in Poland. We have very long and harsh winters, so half year we drive on summer tires, and the other half on winter tires. The "pit stop" time is November and March. And it is much cheaper to buy the tires over the Internet. So a little bit unexpectedly, the Internet market for tires in Poland twice a year almost reaches the market of entire English - speaking population. Wow... What am I doing here writing the blog? I should be filling the warehouses with new supplies of Michelins and Pirellis...