Defining, Finding, & Exploring Trends

DEFINING, FINDING, & EXPLORING TRENDS

A Guide

By

Emily Brown

WHAT IS A TREND?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language a trend is:

1.A general tendency or course of events: a warming trend.

2.Current style; vogue: the latest trend in fashion.

3.The general direction of something: the river's southern trend.

intr.v. trend•ed, trend•ing, trends

Trend. (2011). In The American Heritage dictionary of the English language. Retrieved from http://bristolcc.edu:2048/login?qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fhmdictenglang%2Ftrend%2F0

FINDING IDEAS FOR TRENDS

The NewsReporters are often in tune with what’s happening in popular culture. Checking out news sources would be a good place to start.

Social MediaWhat are people talking about? Search social media outlets for key terms and ideas for trends.

RadioReporting on the radio is just as up-to-date as newspaper reporting. Check out NPR or other radio stations to see what trends might be being discussed.

A WORD OF CAUTION

When using the internet to investigate trends, you need to pay attention to authorship. Who is writing the story? Is there bias? Why does the story exist?

You are investigating if your trend is being discussed.

See if your trend exists. Quote the experts, not the talking heads.

TWITTER AND SOCIAL UNREST AND PROTEST

This is the trend I will be exploring through news outlets, social media, and radio sources.

THE NEWSFinding trends using news outlets.

BUZZFEED

Search Buzzfeed to see if your trend is being discussed.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/search

Use the search bar to explore your trend on buzzfeed.

NEW YORK TIMES

Search the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/

Remember, you have free access to older issues of the New York Times through BCC Libraries.

THE BOSTON GLOBE

Search the Boston Globe:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/

Remember, you have free access to older issues of the Boston Globe through BCC Libraries.

SOCIAL MEDIASearch Social Media outlets for ideas on trends. Remember, though, authorship

is very important to investigate when using social media.

TWITTER

Search Twitter:

https://twitter.com/search-advanced

Remember to be cautious of authorship and authority.

Of course you have to be extremely careful when searching social media platforms.

Since many legitimate news organizations use Twitter you may find credible stories.

One of the links I found was to a map of tweets mentioning Ferguson compiled by the Daily Mail, a UK newspaper.

RADIONews reporting also happens on the radio. Checking a news radio stations website might lead to

informative stories about your trend.

As with any news outlet, be wary of bias.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

Search NPR:

http://www.npr.org/

The search box is on the upper right hand corner.

When I searched NPR I found stories about twitter and protests from both 2014 and 2011.

CONCLUSION

Thus concludes our exploration of news sources and social media for articles on trends.