Staying on top of social media trends means knowing exactly what is about to go viral. Last Wednesday, Google introduced a new feature to its data tracking tool, Google Trends, that allows users to see exactly what is trending up to the hour. The new Google Trends uses real time information taken from Google News and YouTube to create reports that pinpoint exactly when a topic is popular. This synthesis of data offers hour-by-hour tracking for any topic searched on the internet.

Google Trends is no longer just a catalogue with a long-term history of trends. Now, much like Twitter, it tells its users exactly what is trending while it is trending. But, better than Twitter, it offers a simple solution to tracking popularity: measure popularity based solely on web searches.

Small businesses can use Google Trends to make timely posts. If your field of expertise is trending at a certain time, post something about it—you will get more exposure that way. If you use Google Trends with precision, then you will be able to more effectively to project your image on social media.

Original article can be found via Mashable.