Zeitgeist - The Spirit of the Times

2) Popular News Terms

This is of course related to the first resource, but it’s a little bit more specific. Keeping current with the top headlines will give you a quick grasp into what’s hot. The number of times the media uses specific terms will tell you how hot certain topics are, and how they are most often expressed (the current colloquialisms and idioms).

This is, of course, harder than glancing at headlines. But an innovative website – www.Trendio.com – can help. The site is creating a community of “news-term gamblers.” Follow this: Members bet on the increase (and decrease) of how many times 3,000 media outlets use selected keywords. Their homepage shows the top gainers and losers by percentage. Their stock market mock game can help keep your research fun - you get $10,000 in play-money when you sign up for a free account.

3) Popular Search Terms

Again, this third method is related to the one above. While “the media” is a driving force behind buzz, it isn’t a monopoly: Pop and trade media often report what we know we should know. But before most of us, there’s often a subculture–a grassroots movement–of those hip to the tip (before it’s a blip on our radar).

On-line search engines can give us a clue into what some want to know, and what most will be talking about. “Google.com/trends” showcases a neat way to compare search terms: How often do people search for one term over another? And where in the world do they care most? It’s a great way to keep on top of our global economy.

Its predecessor is Google.com/zeitgeist: This neat site gives us a weekly (monthly and yearly) summary of the most popular searched terms on the most popular search engine. It also categorizes it into popular interests and industries. Yahoo! Buzz is just like this, but better: It also blogs about the greatest gainers and losers.

What’s the “most grassroots” of terms? Pop lingo is my catch-all for the hottest slang, popular jargon, catchy idioms and coined words/meanings (neologisms). Wonder how “cool” became the hip thing to say for so many generations and cliques? “Slam Dunks and No-Brainers” is a great book on the history and currency of what author Leslie Savan calls “pop language.”

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