{"id":14927,"date":"2026-06-13T21:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=14927"},"modified":"2026-06-13T21:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:09:29","slug":"this-free-service-uses-wikipedia-to-reveal-what-the-world-is-thinking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=14927","title":{"rendered":"This free service uses Wikipedia to reveal what the world is thinking about"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

Wikipedia may be the last good website\u2014a volunteer-driven service that isn\u2019t flooded by advertisements or completely captured by corporate interests.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also very useful. I find myself constantly opening it when I hear a name or term I\u2019m not familiar with, and I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n

Have you ever wondered, while using Wikipedia to familiarize yourself with something new you just heard about, how many other<\/em> people are doing the same thing? Now, thanks to a clever off-the-beaten-path new Wikipedia-enhancer, you can find out\u2014and gain a whole new level of understanding about the world around you.<\/p>\n

This tip originally appeared in the free <\/em>Cool Tools newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a> from <\/em>The Intelligence<\/em><\/a>. Get the next issue <\/em>in your inbox<\/em><\/a> and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!<\/em><\/p>\n

Your inside eye on Wikipedia interest<\/h2>\n

\u200bWikipedia Seismograph\u200b<\/strong><\/a> is a free service provided by renowned web wizard Tara Calishain\u200b<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u279c The site lets you quickly find spikes in traffic to any Wikipedia article for a simple way to see when global interest in any particular topic is increasing.<\/p>\n

\u231a And it takes only a few short seconds <\/strong>to start using.<\/p>\n

\u279c Just fire up the site\u200b<\/a>, use its \u201cArticle\u201d box to search for any Wikipedia topic, and set a date range to see a graph outlining traffic to that specific article.<\/p>\n

A \u200bWikipedia Seismograph\u200b interest graph, revealing trends with activity around Google since the start of the year.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a quick trick to retroactively spot when interest in any subject was at its highest. That can help you see how invested people are in different companies, public figures, and events\u2014which is useful for a variety of professions but also just plain interesting.<\/p>\n

For example: On February 22, interest in hockey players Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid spiked. Why? The answer, if you\u2019re a hockey fan, is obvious: That was the day of the gold medal Olympic hockey game between the U.S. and Canada, in which the two superstar athletes went head to head in front of an international audience largely seeing them play for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Wikipedia Seismograph\u200b helps you read between the lines of what other<\/em> people are reading.
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you have a job that even occasionally benefits from pointing out what kinds of topics people around the world are thinking about, this is indispensable. Even if you just have a personal curiosity in such matters, it\u2019s a tremendous tool and knowledge expansion resource to keep handy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s truly free, too\u2014with no advertising, clutter, or other asterisks.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca1And if you want to explore even further, you\u2019ll find several other worthwhile tools on the very same website. There\u2019s a Wikipedia Hot Topics tool\u200b<\/a>, for instance, that lets you choose a day and explore which articles were getting the most views on that day (February 22, predictably, features a lot of hockey players). There\u2019s also Main Characters\u200b<\/a>, which lets you browse the most popular people in any Wikipedia category.<\/p>\n

All of these tools give you unprecedented insight into how people are using the internet\u2019s best website\u2014and once you start looking, there\u2019s virtually no end to what you can learn.<\/p>\n