Google Trends: Google's HQ city tops for "Skype" news searches

I, like just about every other blogger, have been playing with uh, sorry- RESEARCHING Google Trends results today.

Google Trends is the new GoogleLabs tool that parses millions of Google and Google News searches over the last couple of years, and among other capabilities, lets you see a list of US. and world cities where the most searches came from.

Because more Google searches would come from the most populous metro areas, there would appear to be a natural bias toward New York, Los Angeles, and other metropoli.

But a funny thing happened when I asked Google Trends to list U.S. cities for Skype searches.

Most likely just a coincidence or an anamoly, but I see that Skype- a Google Talk competitor- gets proportionately the most searches out of Googles's HQ city of Mountain View. 

Searches for other terms, such as "Vonage," "VoIP" and "IP Telephony" don't bring up Mountain View at all.

Given Mountain View's modest population, I have to think that some of the searches for Skype news originate from Google HQ, or from Google employees logging on from home. Abd speaking of, cities such as Pleasanton (#2) and San Jose (#3) are home to a lot of Google employees, as well.

And these searches would have to be for Skype News, not just for Skype. I mean, everybody knows Skype's URL, which doesn't change. But the news does. And note the spikes when Skype news has broken of competitive relevance to Google Talk. Even though GT was not announced at that point, gotta think that such Skype news was of intense interest to some Google employees.

Ooo, this is fun. Now follow along with me as I show you what Google Trends found for searches specifying "Vonage," "IP Telephony," and "Internet phone." I'll be easier on the eyes, and just show you the city charts.

Here's Vonage searches on Google Trends:

Raleigh leads, followed by Tampa, Orlando, New York and Las Vegas. Just a guess: those four latter cities get a lot of relocatees, who may want more info on Vonage's calling plans that enable them to save money on their phone bills for calling friends and family they may have left behind.

Now for "IP Telephony":

Hmm, no surprise there. "IP Telephony" is a fairly technical descriptor, and San Jose is the largest city in Silicon Valley.

But what happens when we check Google Trends for the far more everyday reference, "Internet phone?" A search term more likely to be entered by novices looking for basic info?

Detroit, hardly known for advanced technology thought-leadership, is #1.  Go figure.