Every once in a while Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) comes along with a new feature that grabs the attention of bloggers. Today's is Google Trends -- which ranks search terms based on their growth in popularity during the day.

In case you missed it, according to lostremote, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE)'s NBC Universal launched an initiative last October: NBCU 2.0 -- a cost-cutting program designed to eliminate 700 jobs and $750 million in expenses by the end of 2008.

Two of the top Google Trends -- Stone Phillips (#1) and John Seigenthaler (#14) -- account for two of the highest profile 700 job cuts. Phillips is a co-host of Dateline and although I never watch the show, I remember his neck as being particularly frightening. Phillips will not be replaced. Meanwhile, Seigenthaler, who left last month, used to host the NBC Nightly News on weekends -- Lester Holt replaced him.

I hope these cost cuts improve NBCU's profitability, but there's a danger that they'll lead to revenue declines that exceed the cost cuts. Meanwhile Google's advertising revenues -- up 63% -- are growing while NBCU's shrank 22% (due, among other things, to the absence of 2007 programming to take up the slack from the 2006 Olympics and its weak ratings).

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns General Electric stock and has no financial interest in Google.

Google Trends: NBCU 2.0's casualties originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 20:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.