Video Killed the Internet Star

Google Video Search is my latest love on the Web (original props to San Francisco Chronicle, Erika Morphy on NewsFactor and Reuters). I can use it to track mentions of keywords and phrases on recent TV programs. It indexes content in much the same way as program transcripts...and it's free.

According to Google's Jan 25 news release,

Google Video offers these additional search features:

Preview page: Displays up to five still video images and five
short text segments from the closed captioning of each program.

Upcoming episodes: Shows when the program will be aired next.

Search within the show: Enables searching for specific words within a given program.

Program details: Offers program and episode information including
channel, date and time.

Change location: Finds the next time and channel where a program will air locally according to zip code.

I'm knee-deep in blogs and blogging, so I used this beta tool to research further.

Date	Media Outlet	Type	Summary
Fri Jan 14	Nightly Business Report (PBS)	News	Corporations try to make sense of blogs.
Fri Jan 14	The Bernie Mac Show (Fox)	Sitcom	Vanessa challenges Bernie on his knowledge of blogs.
Tue Feb 1	Jeopardy! (ABC)	Game Show	There was a board category called Lincoln Blogs.
Sat Mar 5	Last Call With Carson Daly (NBC)	Talk Show	Carson claims blog use signifies a generation gap.
Tue Mar 8	Nightline (ABC)	News	Growing influence of bloggers on public opinion and officials.
Thur Mar 24	Live With Regis and Kelly (ABC)	Talk Show	A talk about new words added to the dictionary. Kelly refers to a blog as "that thing in the computer."

In one quick search, I discovered how blogs affect business, popular culture (e.g. game shows, sitcoms and talk shows), the generations and politics. I also confirmed Kelly Ripa is functionally computer-illiterate. And I haven't even scratched the surface.

Aside from opening my eyes more on the impact of blogs, I realize how easy it is to apply this Google tool to just about everything we do. Track trends quickly without killing your small business marketing budget. Inspire tweens and teens to gather primary sources for research papers. Verify your celebrity is still the flavor of the month, whether you're a manager, entertainment publicist, or CPA (celebrity personal assistant). And kill the time while working at a boring receptionist temp job.

Can you think of other ways to use Google Video search? Share your ideas in comments.

[ technorati: blogs, blogging, web, weblogs, Google, popular culture, market research, trend spotting, search tools, TV programs ]