Mickey Mouse knows what’s up: Police Chiefs have invaded Orlando, FL, gathering from all around the globe at the International Association of Chief of Police Annual Conference Oct. 23-27. It’s their 117th annual gathering. (Since 1893, folks!)

From patrolling on horseback at the turn of the century to searching TV in the new millennium, IACP has come a long way as the world’s largest oldest and largest association of law enforcement executives.

On Saturday, Oct. 23, SnapStream’s CEO Rakesh Agrawal and Senior Sales Engineer Tom Wilson led a session in the Public Information Officers section track. Our friends at the Plano Police Department (TX) and Lee County Sheriff’s Office (FL), Officer Rick McDonald and Lieutenant Larry King respectively, participated in the panel discussion as well.

Both PIOs are SnapStream users who rely on TV search technology in their day-to-day media communications. The topic of discussion, “Instant Television Communication to your iPhone and other Applications During a Crisis,” included case studies from Plano PD and Lee County detailing their uses of search, clipping and TV Alerts in action. If you’d like a copy of the presentation, send an e-mail to sales@snapstream.com

Here’s one example from Lee County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO). When the State Attorney’s Office dropped murder charges on two suspects arrested by LCSO, local media all used the word “botched” in reference to the investigation. At no point did the District Attorney (or anyone) use this term. See for yourself how this was a flagrant case of the media “piling on.” PIO Lt. King brought this reel into a meeting between public safety and the media: prepared, supporting evidence using SnapStream.

This year, IACP attracted nearly 14,000 attendees with members diversified from over 100 countries. The workshops provide excellent training opportunities in law enforcement leadership, tackling new, yet important issues like social media policy and outreach and media response with TV search technology. For conference updates, visit the IACP 2010 Blog or follow @IACPOfficial on Twitter.

So I’m a big fan of Oprah and I DVR every episode (season pass, obviously). Last night, I watched the “Are You Normal?” episode which aired yesterday. Throughout the show, Oprah did a series of polls with the audience about people’s random habits to discern if the quirky things we do in private are “normal.”  Exploring tame questions like “How often do you pick your nose?” to much more personal and embarrassing subjects, it was human nature at its most candid and the results were funny to everyone.

Throughout the show Oprah dropped a teaser question: ”What is the most Googled word?” Perhaps to indicate what people are most curious about. After all, the anonymity of the Web is the perfect cloak to hide those secretive sort of inquiries.

What’s your guess?

The answer…

Google Trends

was love. I cross-referenced with Google Trends to investigate and found that sex is actually way higher in average worldwide traffic. As in, love comes nowhere near the search volume! Where is Oprah getting this information from? I would love to know.

Hmm, but this got my wheels turning. At SnapStream, we often compare Google Trends to TV Trends because it’s cool to see how trends differ between online searches and TV news coverage.

The way I see it, it’s like information economics: TV is the outgoing supply of information (one size fits all) and Google is the information you demand to know (what whets your appetite). Sometimes, they match identically. Other times, there’s zero correlation.

TV Trends

So I took it to SnapStream’s TV Trends for good measure. The results truly astonished me. In the course of 2009, money dominated the topic of media conversation. Okay, no surprise there, owing to the recession year, but wait, there’s more.

Let the sun shine all over 2010: love and money interwine on the graph, dancing above and below each other in unpredictable steps. Who would have thought that love would spread like butter on the media’s radar? Mush. Not exactly hard-breaking news.

Although… a recent (very recent) news story featuring love pops into mind. Did you watch the Chilean miners’ miraculous rescue mission unfold?! All of the reporters were exclaiming how captivating the individual stories and relationships were: to see husbands and wives reuniting was like “watching a wedding,” one CNN reporter said, but with deeper gravity in the circumstances. Emotions were running with adrenaline through this positive, uplifting story, proving that maybe sometimes, in our business-focused society, “love rules.” That’s how Oprah put it.

On the way to work, The InterWebs runs into a new-old friend…

The InterWebs: There’s something different about you… Did you get a haircut? Drop a few lbs? Hmm, got some work done?? Whatever it is… I’m definitely feeling it.

SnapStream: I’m glad you noticed. Over the summer, I’ve been working on my fitness and dropped a few kilobytes here and there.

The InterWebs: Looking good! Is that the only thing?

SnapStream: I also went to the spa and got the “so fresh & so clean” package. I highly recommend it. I feel like a new site!

The InterWebs: Good for you. Everyone deserves to pamper themselves every once in a while. I definitely see a pep in your step!

SnapStream: Yup! You know it. I also met a couple of new friends, DJ JQuery and S to the EO, and we shared stories and I was able to learn a thing or two from them.

The InterWebs: Oh, cool. I know them too. They are well-known in my circle.

SnapStream: I have so much more to tell you but I have visitors waiting. Take my URL. SnapStream scribbles down snapstream.com for The InterWebs to remember. Bookmark me and keep in touch!

On October 4, SnapStream is escaping the Houston humidity and making a break for beautiful Ottawa, Canada to exhibit at the annual GTEC (Government Technology Exhibition and Conference).

GTEC draws folks from the public sector within Canada to learn about the latest and greatest technologies around. I believe the GTEC website (http://www.gtec.ca) summarizes the conference to a T!

“For the past 17 years, GTEC has brought together leading public and private sector experts to collaborate on serving citizens better through innovation and technology. Our conference, exhibition and Distinction Awards program celebrate best of breed technology, and best practice leadership in Canadian and international government.”

Personally, I’m happy to be participating in GTEC for the first time. It will give us a chance to not only introduce our TV media monitoring technology to new Canadian government departments, but also to reconnect with many of our existing customers.

We’re also thrilled to announce that our Canadian partner, CBCI Telecom, will be attending the show! CBCI Telecom is Canada’s leading full-service Telepresence, Videoconferencing & Audiovisual solutions integrator.

A little background on SnapStream and CBCI Telecom: The working partnership was established in 2009, when CBCI introduced the SnapStream product line to the Canadian NMSO (National Master Standing Offer). Since then, SnapStream and CBCI have rolled out systems to many municipal, provincial and federal government departments across all of Canada, including the RCMP.

If you’ll be in the area, feel free to visit with either SnapStream or CBCI. Hope to see you up North!