NYT: Postcards From Planet Google

Fascinating piece in the NY Times I overlooked till pointed out by Nick Denton about how Google has developed a powerful analysis tool for tracking trends within its search content that it calls Live Query. Presently, the tool is not available publicly, although there is Google Zeitgeist in the press section of the site, which extracts the top 10 search queries gaining for the week, as well as the fastest dropping, as well as other tidbits.

The article goes into great detail about trends the internal analysts observe looking at search patterns and suggests that Google is trying to figure out how to turn Live Query into a market research service:

Predictably, Google's query data respond to television, movies and radio. But the mass media also feed off the demands of their audiences. One of Google's strengths is its predictive power, flagging trends before they hit the radar of other media.

As such it could be of tremendous value to entertainment companies or retailers. Google is quiet about what if any plans it has for commercializing its vast store of query information. "There is tremendous opportunity with this data," Mr. Silverstein said. "The challenge is defining what we want to do."

If you don't know them, also check out Yahoo!'s Buzz Index, the Lycos 50 (with a daily column by Aaron Schatz) and similar search-based meme meters listed here on SearchEngineWatch.com.

UPDATE:
Reader Eric Fader points out that Yahoo! already has commericalized its Buzz Index. Click "comments" to see his full note.