Socialism – Recent Online Trends

Have you noticed the recent increase in the use of the words “socialism” and “socialist” online – and not just on our blog (see Socialism)? As political debate in the blogosphere continues about Obama’s socialist leanings and as the Fed and Treasury implement the bailout plan to nationalize U.S. banks, that term is being used more frequently than ever.

Google Trends Results – Socialism and Socialist

Here are the Google Trends for the words “socialism” and “socialist” since the beginning of the year (January 1, 2008 to present).

This chart shows a dramatic increase in search queries for both phrases in Google – 5 times the normal amount of usage for the word “socialism”, and 3 times the normal amount of usage for the word “socialist.”

BlogPulse Results – Socialism

Below are the BlogPulse results for the words “socialist”and “socialism” over the last 6 months.

As expected, BlogPulse reports similar data. The difference between Google Trends and BlogPulse is that BlogPulse measures “the buzz” – or use of a set of keywords and phrases – around a topic in the blogosphere.

The results above indicate that usage of the word “socialist” (orange trend line) in blogs is just a little more common than “socialism” (blue trend line). Usage of these words increased starting between August 22nd and September 9th – usage of the word “socialist” is about 5 times normal, and usage of the word “socialism” is about 8 times normal usage.

What’s your take on these trends?

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