Analyzing the Internet user numbers.

When Internet users type words into a search engine, it may not occur to them that they_re not just seeking information. They_re also inadvertently supplying it. Search sites have been collecting raw data for years on what Net users search for, but they_ve never been able to figure out what to do with it. Now one of the Web_s top search firms is taking a crack at turning its numbers into news. Lycos has created a report called The Lycos 50 (think Fortune 500) based on logs generated by the 12 million searches a day that Net users perform on Lycos_ site, which Media Metrix recently ranked No. 2 in search traffic, after Yahoo! The list could be considered ``a distant early warning system' for nascent trends, said Fritz Holznagel, the cybergenic fact freak who writes the reports on what_s climbing the charts. Excluded are pornographic and obviously commercial searches, as well as ``stuff that looks suspicious,' he said, such as large numbers of queries from one location in an apparent attempt to manipulate the list. In addition to analyzing the top 50 search terms for the previous week , Holznagel and the Lycos Reporting Systems Team keep an eye on daily trends, posting ``Today_s Hotties' weekdays at noon. This week, football and NFL searches have been skyrocketing, as has Dragonball Z, a Japanese cartoon based on a video game, which recently was introduced in the United States on the Cartoon Network. Other notables: Halloween at No. 23, guns at 31 and the Bible at 39, up from No. 50 last week. Holznagel suggested that Bible study groups may be starting up again after the summer break. He also highlights other noteworthy phenomena (this week it_s homework searches, from poetry and frogs to Beowulf) and seeks readers_ help with mystery words, whose sudden appearance in hundreds of searches baffles the team. Examples from two months of testing include goo, grape and lobster. Friends and colleagues he consulted have suggested that goo referred to the band Goo Goo Dolls, and grape indicated amateur winemakers checking reports of a late harvest. Lobster followed media reports of a new Live Lobster Cam on the Web site of the University of Maine.