Welcome to the July 2022 edition of Top Conversations in Technology, where we break down which topics are leading, rising and falling each month to help technology marketers maximize relevance and adapt to changing market dynamics. In this month’s analysis, we focus on variations in news and blog citation volumes month-over-month (versus June 2022) and year-over-year (versus July 2021).  

Big Picture: We hit the heart of summer, but nothing seems to have slowed down. And with Biden’s push to pass the CHIPS act, it’s not surprising that semiconductor mentions surged 90% in July, pushing the topic into the top 10 for the first time in three-plus years of this analysis. The bill, aimed at boosting U.S. semiconductor production and improving American competitiveness with China, will send a bunch of money into American manufacturing and scientific research. So, we’ve got that going for us.  

July’s Top Ten: The top 6 topics in July remained consistent with what we’ve seen thus far in 2022. Cryptocurrencies ranked #1, followed by Bitcoin at #2, with both topics showing marginal growth (up 3% and 5%, respectively). #3 Smartphone (up 29%) pushed ahead of #4 Supply Chain (up 4%), while #5 Blockchain (up 5%) and #6 E-commerce (up 3%) held steady in the rankings.  From there we start to see some shifts. #7 Semiconductors jumped up 90%, climbing from #12 to reach its highest rank to date. #8 Drones (up 34%) and #9 Wi-Fi (up 21%) each gained one spot in the rankings, while #10 Artificial Intelligence slid from #7 despite a 2% mention increase. Meanwhile, Cybersecurity dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since January (down 10% from #8 to #12).    

What’s Climbing: Nearly two-thirds of the 214 topics analyzed, and all but one the top 25, posted gains from June to July – defying the traditional summer slump. However, only six topics showed gains of 50% or greater:  

• #219 Threat Telemetry – up 140% 
• #114 Voice Remote – up 113% 
• #7 Semiconductors – up 90% 
• #179 Digital Workflow – up 87% 
• #75 Election Security – up 63% 
• #64 Health Tech – up 51% 
• #189 Customer Education – up 50% 

Gains were posted across a variety of technology areas. Voice Remote was up due to Amazon Prime Day. Election Security gains were likely tied to mid-term primaries and candidates that promoted “the big lie.” Health Technology has garnered increased interest due to COVID and Monkeypox developments, which also boosted #57 Contact Tracing (up 41%). Moving down the list, #51 Data Security (up 43%) posted gains even as Cybersecurity mentions fell. #145 Qubits was up 38% (moving up from #161 in the rankings) tied to increased interest in #77 Quantum Computing (up 31%, from #92).  

What’s Falling: There were fewer losses in July than June, with 80 of 214 topics losing ground (down from 112). Losses were also less pronounced, with only three topics shedding more than 50% of coverage volume from the previous month, including #210 Thermal Monitoring (down 78%), #214 Adversary Detection (down 78%) and #165 AI Ethics (72%). Also of note, only five topics in the top 50 lost ground, with all of the losses relatively marginal. This included:  

• #12 Cybersecurity – down 10% 
• #26 Digital Transformation – down 3% 
• #31 Customer Experience – down 5% 
• #34 Venture Capital – down 6%  
• #47 Remote Work – down 12%  

Beyond those top losses, there were some common themes: #205 Asynchronous Video (down 47%) and #193 Video Messaging (down 37%) both lost ground, as did #186 Surveillance Capitalism (down 37%) and #208 Humane Technology (down 36%). Along with Cybersecurity (down 10%), other security topics that dropped include #194 Cloud Access Security Broker/CASB (42%), #143 Threat Detection (down 26%), #176 Secure Access Service Edge/SASE (down 25%) and #103 Infrastructure Security (23%).  

So What/Now What: July bucked the normal trend of a summer slowdown, which is a little odd, but this year has been anything but normal. Moving into August, we’ll watch to see if technology discussions squeeze in a summer break; how the political climate influences what’s hot; and the latest in the ongoing supply chain soap opera that impacts all our lives. In the meantime, keep running up that hill, and we’ll monitor what strange things pop in the news.  

Questions? Comments? See a topic we are not tracking? Please share below, and we will address in future installments.