Ever worry that Twitter is overtaking the blogosphere?

Well, it is. If you look at Google Trends and compare “blog” with “twitter” for search (like the screenshot below) you may think that Twitter has indeed taken over the search volume. However, looking at the numbers with a little more scrutiny, it’s entirely possible that searches containing “blog” are just as strong as it ever was, with Twitter accounting for more of the remaining available search statistics. This is probably a case of “everything is with, not instead of” (hat tip to Mitch Joel for that phrase).

Concerned that we’re too worried over Return On Investment?

This time last year, “Social Media ROI” was a massive idea – the concept of measuring the business value of human interaction is very appealing. but – was this because social media was on the rise? Or because people were more concerned with ROI itself?

Again, Trends gives us what we needed here – comparing Google Trends for “social media” with “roi” for search terms shows us that the latter saw very little overall fluctuation; our awareness of all things social media, however, increased very strongly. This of course must include ROI, as the social media ideal began to enter the business world.

It’s good to be aware of trends – but it’s also important that trends get some perspective. Scale, volume, and capacity don’t always mean the same things.