May 12th, 2006
What the World is Searching For …
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
… and I don’t mean a specific item, either. Google Trends, unveiled this week, will display a graph that shows search volume for a particular item. It will also show news volume. You can even compare items. For example, the screenshot I attached shows a comparison between “PS3″ and “Wii”. Wii is the flat red line 
Additionally, there are letters on the graph that are linked to news stories along the right-hand side. Also, there is information on which cities / regions / languages searched the most for that topic. In this case, it was Miami. If you click Region, however, you would see the U.K. as #1.
I would be remiss if I did not try a few different terms. For example, “sex” is most searched in Cairo (city) and Pakistan (region). Beer is most searched in Philadelphia (city) and Canada / Australia (region).
We Say: This is pretty cool but naturally, as with a search result, the search term (Playstation 3 vs. PS3) can make a difference. And I’m sure not everything is covered. Couldn’t find “RealTechNews” for example. 
Cyrus says:
Don’t bash the Wii, its definetely getting more press than the muscle-bound PS3. I seriously believe that the innovation that Nintendo is pushing is a great step forward for the console gaming world, whereas the PS3 is nothing more than an expensive, nicely enclosed computer. I was very excited when I first saw the performance stats on the 360, but every bit as much when I saw the possibilities that the Wii has to revolutionize gaming tech.
May 14th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Travis says:
I understand the excitement regarding a new Google Service, but if you are going to use data to show that PS3 has a greater grasp on the general public you should at least use relevent data. The graph you have shown give 2.5 years of search data. The first thing that you should do is narrow down the time scale. Remeber that for a long time Wii didn’t exist. In fact, it didn’t exist until late April; it was the Nintendo Revolution. Secondly, you have left out another key compeditor, XBox 360. I would suggest you go back to Google Trends and compare the following string exactly: PS3, Nintendo Revolution, Playstation 3, xbox 360, Wii . Then select just the year 2006. You will be suprised. If you are too lazy to do that, as your journalism would suggest here’s a link…it might work.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=PS3%2C+Nintendo+Revolution%2C+Playstation+3%2C+xbox+360%2C+Wii&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2006
May 16th, 2006 at 3:11 pm