Is Google Instant a Flop? Google Trends seems to say so

[darwinGod]

http://www.google.com/trends?q=google+instant&ctab=0&geo=all&geor=all&date=mtd&sort=0

[smysore]

A search for "google instant" on Google Trends doesn't really reflects consumer reaction, right? People searched for it a lot when it was news but now people just use it because it's awesome.

[darwinGod → smysore]

That might be true, but the news reference volume should show an increasing trend- or at least, some 'bounces' - which is not the case yet!

Also look at the magnitude of drop- from search index volume 25 to just above 0! That's a pretty drastic fall.

[betaPass]

From the other 'instant' clones out there, including youtube instant, and hacker news instant, I would not consider it to be a failure.

Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

After all, Youtube instant supposedly had traffic in millions, and the chap was offered a job. Was that a kind of PR ploy? May be. May be not.

However, I would be interested to see how Google instant impacts Google Trends.

[soofaloofa]

Were these searches for the phrase "Google Instant" done with Google Instant? Probably.

This metric makes no sense in gauging success.

[darwinGod → soofaloofa]

It's true that mere searches for Google instant might not directly be a measure of it's success. But most certainly, it is a measure of the level of interest sustained.

a)Even if the phrase "Google instant" were to be done using Google Instant, wouldn't Google have done something to incorporate it in the trends? (User clicks on links, right?)

b)Google Instant was not released to the general public all at one go.It was done in phases. So if it really did have a viral effect, and sustained interest, the graph would not be a spike and a fall-off.

Take the case of Google wave- Here 's the Google trend of October 2009, (It was released on Sep 30)

http://www.google.com/trends?q=google+wave&ctab=0&ge...

Compare the news reference volume of this and Google instant. Google instant seems to have a sharper fall in news reference volume than even Google wave! This has to be linked in some way to the number of people using/ enjoying Google instant! My hunch is that, there haven't been as many takers for Instant, as Google might have wanted-- at least,not yet.

[code_duck123]

Noticed a thread on HN about some 30 year old guy who didnt like Google instant. Anyone has a link to that thread? However, there hasnt been a single verdict yet...It's been just 20 days since launch!