Zeitgeist (zīte-gīst) is a German word meaning "spirit of the times" (give or take). Google’s Zeitgeist page reports the top 15 gaining searches in what John Battelle calls our database of intentions: the "massive clickstream database of desires, needs, wants, and preferences…" recorded on the internet (The Search, Portfolio, 2005).
In theory, the top 15 gaining searches in any time period should tell us something about our culture by revealing what people are looking for on the Internet. In practice, making sense (business or otherwise) of that information is…challenging.
Here are the Google Zeitgeist reports for the month of October 2005.
Top 15 Gaining Queries Week Ending October 31, 2005
- rosa parks
- halloween
- daylight savings
- jack-o-lantern
- costume ideas
- michael myers
- alisa scott
- wizard of oz
- jack skellington
- valerie plame
- sheryl swoopes
- the onion
- tonya harding
- johnny cash
- saw 2
Top 15 Gaining Queries Week Ending October 24, 2005
- hurricane wilma
- madonna
- national hurricane center
- NOAA
- britney spears baby
- jennifer aniston
- powerball
- cancun
- quake 4
- batman begins
- world series
- doom
- saw
- pumpkin carving patterns
- charlize theron
Top 15 Gaining Queries Week Ending October 17, 2005
- sea turtle
- daniel craig
- domino Harvey
- refco
- sienna miller
- powerball
- ipod video
- steelers
- sweetest day
- james bond
- yom kippur
- keira knightley
- pumpkin carving
- notre dame
- ricky martin
Top 15 Gaining Queries Week Ending October 10, 2005
- harriet miers
- jessica biel
- michelle wie
- Ramadan
- katie holmes
- lindsay lohan vanity fair
- battlefield 2
- rosh hashanah
- bird flu
- taylor behl
- jessica simpson
- python alligator
- alice kim cage
- wallace and gromit
- delphi
Top 15 Gaining Queries Week Ending October 3, 2005
- giant squid
- serenity
- harriet miers
- jessica alba
- tom delay
- anna nicole smith
- dane cook
- boston red sox
- jennifer garner
- halloween wallpaper
- pumpkins
- cinderella
- bernadette peters
- ramadan
- bob dylan
- What stands out for you about these lists?
- Based on these weekly snapshots, what would you think people are hungry for?
- What danger and opportunities can you imagine from these lists?
