A fun new tool: Google Trends

[sofa king]

http://www.google.com/trends

Shows volume and date levels for particular searches, with linked headlines for significant traffic peaks. You can check what regions and cities are interested. No hard data is given, so as far as I can tell, this trial offering is really just a nifty toy for now.

It's also very depressing. Consider, for example, the trend history for the search on "rove."

http://www.google.com/trends?q=rove

Who's most interested in "rove"? Why, if I interpret that list correctly, it's the Australians, followed closely by New Zealanders. Followed by Austin, Texas. Washington DC and its extra-Beltway satellite, Reston, Virginia close out the top ten list.

Australians and New Zealanders are more interested in Karl Rove than the United States is? No. Australian and New Zealand cities have more interest in a guy named Rove McManus than any American City has in our beloved Karl Rove, even Austin (Butthole Surfers rule, dude!).

What frightens me is that there are some 295 million Americans, 75% of whom have used the Internet at some point. There's a shitload of Americans online. There are 24 million Roos and Kiwis combined, total.

Those 24 million people are more interested in an Aussie TV show than the rest of the world is interested in Karl Rove. I'm not knocking on Mr. McManus--I've never seen his show. But can that possibly be true?

Sigh. Of course it could be true.