Maybe it's just because I'm looking at
Google Hot Trends on a Sunday, but it seems useless because it's cluttered with crossword clues. Google did specifically mention crossword puzzle clues when they
announced Google Hot Trends (emphasis mine):
And today we're introducing a new toy we are calling Hot Trends. It's a new feature of Google Trends for sharing the the hottest current searches with you in very close to real time. What's on our collective mind as we search for information? What's interesting to people right now? Hot Trends will tell you. At a glance, you'll see the huge variety of topics capturing our attention, from current events to daily crossword puzzle clues to the latest celebrity gossip. Hot Trends is updated throughout the day, so check back often.
The
TagMuse Technorati mashup I created a few months ago is pretty useful for generating ideas for blog topics. It pulls data from
Technorati popular searches and
Technorati tags. When I heard about Google Hot Trends, I thought I could use this data for blog ideas, too. I'm experimenting with a new mashup called
TagTrends. It looks at the top 100 hot searches from Google Hot Trends and filters it down to only those single and double keyword phrases (since most tags are one or two words). It then compares these searches to the
Technorati tags page. As with
TagMuse, the idea is to find keywords people are searching for but other bloggers haven't already written about extensively. However, with the crossword clues clutter, I'm not sure if
TagTrends is going to be as useful as
TagMuse. Let's compare the top 7 tag results from both tools for today:

1.
youtube2.
ron paul3.
myspace4.
frank rich5.
naruto6.
orkut7.
friendster
1.
patty schnyder2.
nutritionist davis3.
lutrine4.
faux gold5.
perry caravello6.
japanese porcelain7.
flivverThe
TagTrends data (from Google Hot Trends) seems like nonsense. Maybe it'll be better during the week. BTW, here's why I think the problem stems from crossword clues clutter. Consider the
hot trends page for nutritionist davis:

Note the nonsensical "Related searches" data and that the "Location" is skewed to New York, NY. I suspect those related searches are people searching for crossword puzzle clues from the Sunday editions of newspapers like the New York Times and New York Post. Unless I can find a way to filter these kinds of searches out of the
TagTrends data, I'm not sure this new mashup is going to be very useful. Guess I'll stick to the Technorati data and
TagMuse. Then again, maybe
TagTrends will be more useful on a weekday.
Tags (made w/
TagBuildr):
google hot trends,
crossword clues,
technorati tags,
mashup