So, this is happening:
The AP's Michael Liedtke writes Microsoft and MSN.com ("after months of development") have launched a "trend-tracking service, called MSNnow tunes into the buzz by sifting through millions of Internet searches and links circulating among the hordes on Facebook and Twitter.
"The chatter is then distilled into the equivalent of a digital water cooler — a place where people can go to keep in touch without taking up a lot of their time."
Below, we take a quick moment-in-time survey of MSN versus the more popular trend trackers, Google Trends and Twitter trends (as of 1:30 ET on Thursday, Feb. 16):
| MSN Now | Google Trends | Twitter Trends |
| madeleine stowe | heart attack grill | Lazio 1-2 Atlético |
| vanessa bryant | randy travis | #TeamJamJars |
| whitney houston | survivor one world | #ThingsStalkersDo |
| miranda lambert | colbert report | Minuto 37 |
| emily vancamp | stephen colbert | #azand |
| ghostbusters 3 | tcu | Grande Falcao |
| rosie o'donnell | knicks | Az 1-0 |
| bill murray | king cake | Marimoon&TitiNaRevistaDM |
| megadeth | kate upton | Mountain Lion |
| randy travis | presidents day | Proud of Sophia Bush |
As the AP notes, "MSNnow's reliance on Bing to monitor online search activity could be a drawback because it processes far fewer requests than Google. But Bing is picking up more cues now that it's powering Yahoo's search engine as part of a 10-year partnership. Combined, Bing and Yahoo have a roughly 30 per cent share of U.S. search volume compared to 66 per cent at Google."
And it appears at this moment that 30 per cent represented by MSN's results are more focused on female-focused TV shows, fashion magazines and, oddly, Ghostbusters 3 speculation.
Google has more of a newsy feel to it: Randy Travis is near the top because he was arrested, not because he has a new album; Heart Attack Grill is the sensational story of a patron dying at the gluttony-promoting eatery; TCU is under investigation for recreational drug scandal; though Google has succumbed to fears over Stephen Colbert's show suspension and the Survivor: One World frenzy.
Twitter's trends are truly international: at the top is a score from an Italian soccer game; Marimoon&TitiNaRevistaDM is the top trend in Brazil; Mountain Lion, the new Mac OS update, to reflect its original techy base; and of course a funny-disturbing meme: #ThingsStalkersDo.
In other words, MSNnow is another version of what part of the Internet is searching and writing about, but not the sole or even very complete version. Also, it tilts pretty heavily toward U.S. users and (at least for today) women.
Things should get better, as the AP writes:
"Facebook Inc. and Twitter also have negotiated deals that make more of their data available to Microsoft's Bing search engine than to Google, but MSNnow isn't relying on that privileged access, Visse said. Instead, MSNnow is conducting its analysis through the public entryways that Facebook and Twitter offers to all websites. MSNnow is also leaning on BreakingNews.com, a part of MSNBC that also pores through a variety of social media to find interesting stories as they unfold.
"MSN.com remains one of the Internet's top destinations with about 520 million users. In comparison Facebook boasts 845 million users, Yahoo has about 700 million and Twitter has more than 100 million."
