How TrendSpry Works
We'd rather you trust the numbers than be impressed by them. Here's exactly how they're built.
TrendSpry tracks how often a topic is appearing in real, disclosed data sources over time, and turns that into two things: a Trend Signal score (0–100) and a direction (rising, falling, flat, or new). Neither is a prediction from a machine-learning model — both come from a formula you can see below, applied to real measurements.
We measure mentions
Each tracked topic gets a daily count of how often it appears in a connected data source — for example, YouTube's official trending videos feed for a given day and region.
We compare to its own history
Today's count is compared against that same topic's mentions from its previous measurement — not against other, unrelated topics.
We compute a score, transparently
Trend Signal = 50 + (percent change × 100), clamped between 0 and 100. A brand-new topic with no baseline yet gets a conservative starting score based on raw volume alone, and is labeled "New."
We disclose the source
Every topic page shows exactly which data source its current numbers come from, including our initial launch dataset while live tracking is still being connected topic by topic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does TrendSpry use AI to predict trends?
No. The Trend Signal score is a transparent calculation based on how much a topic's tracked mentions have grown or shrunk compared to its own recent history — not a machine-learning prediction. We'd rather show you real, explainable numbers than a confident-sounding black box.
Where does the data come from?
TrendSpry launched with an initial curated dataset across ten categories. Live tracking is added topic by topic as data sources such as YouTube's official trending API are connected — each topic page discloses exactly which source its current numbers come from.
Why isn't every topic searchable yet?
We only show data for topics we actually track, so numbers are always real. As live data sources are added, the searchable topic list grows.
What does a Trend Signal score actually mean?
It is a 0-100 number: higher means faster recent growth in tracked mentions relative to that topic's own baseline, not an absolute popularity ranking between unrelated topics.