Thanks to the Internet and other global media, music trends shoot around the world at blinding speeds.

NPR: Cosmopop: European Music with a Global Flavor

Jeff Jacoby, columnist for The Boston Globe, and Salil Tripathi, who grew up in India but now lives in London and writes on economics, literature and social trends for major publications around the world, were first and second place runner-ups, respectively.

FORBES: Easton, Postrel Win Bastiat Prize For Free Market Journalism

The 1990s also saw the emergence of a British "creative economy, " whereby trends, technology and ideas were exported around the world.

WSJ: British Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum: A Nostalgic Leap Forward

Health professionals around the world already use online tools, such as Google Flu Trends, Health Map or Global Public Health Intelligence Network to track the spread of infectious diseases.

BBC: Can crowdsourcing beat the flu?

Since Daniels founded Social Media Week in 2008, it has become a major global conference reaching more than 100, 000 people in 26 cities around the world, aiming to connect people and brands around emerging trends in social and mobile media.

FORBES: The Power of Social Networking: Q&A with Social Media Week Founder Toby Daniels

It was important that Pennell and his teams were in touch with consumer and workplace technology trends, and could predict how they would be used by the media and by Olympic fans around the world, building the infrastructure to support that.

FORBES: Five IT Lessons from the London 2012 Olympics

She identified two big social trends that have led to a greater reliance on online dating: an aging population, and women around the world entering the workforce, marrying later, divorcing more, moving from place to place.

NEWYORKER: Looking for Someone