What is trending today?

Internet is volatile, ever-changing and unpredictable. Something that tops the trending charts in the morning may disappear into oblivion without leaving a trace in the evening. But trending charts produced by Internet giants such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and Twitter tell it all.

Trending is not a new term for tech-savvy Internet users. Trending topics tell us about popular topics of the day on the Internet. There are many websites that regularly update the list of popular searched for terms in their websites. Many search engines, news websites, micro-blogging and social networking websites have begun showing trending topics of the day to inform their users about the most-searched for topics on their website on any given day.  

Trending topics on a website like Twitter are topics that are the searched for because they prompt users to talk about them because of their importance on any given day. Usually, the names of the topics on Twitter are followed by the ‘#’ hash sign.

Many a time trending on these websites are the results of concerted efforts by the fans of a celebrity or the marketing department of a brand. To make their trending results authentic and accurate, Google, Twitter and other websites, which display trending topics on their websites regularly, change the algorithm of their search results to check manipulation by users.

To make trending easier for common people, Google launched called Google Trends in May 2006. This enables users to see what were the popular search terms over a period of time on the search engine. According to the website, "Trends for Websites combine information from a variety of sources, such as aggregated Google search data, aggregated opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in consumer panel data, and other third-party market research. (...) Additionally, Google Trends for Websites only shows results for sites that receive a significant amount of traffic, and enforces minimum thresholds for inclusion in the tool."

Google Trends has added many new features under the tag Google Insight for Search to tell users about ‘hot searches of the day’ and other information based on their research. The site is updated on an hourly basis. Users can know the estimated number of daily visitors on a specific website and also the number of people who visited a website in the previous seven days or in a month. The website also provides country-specific data.