Google Zeitgeist 2011 – A Round-up

Last week, Google released its annual Google Zeitgeist lists for 2011. The lists provide an interesting insight into what got us Googling over the past 12 months, from the devastation caused by the tsunami in Japan, to perhaps the worst song of all time.

The data is comprehensive, delving into weekly comparisons of the fastest rising and most popular searches of 2011. If nothing else, it is a great way for celebs to gauge their position within the public psyche at the end of the year; Pippa Middleton can be proud in the knowledge that she was on a search par with Osama Bin Laden between week 17 and 20.

As well as a chronological breakdown of search, Google Zeitgeist provides us with search trends the world over. This year provided us with the first ever non-Latin entry to the Global fastest-rising list: 東京電力, translating as TEPCO (owners of the Fukushima Power Plant in Japan), became the 8th fastest rising global search query of the year.

Of course, many (if not most) of the conclusions drawn are exactly what one may expect. In Egypt, the top searches were dominated by revolution. In the UK, the Royal Wedding took centre stage as the fastest-rising search term. In Sweden, it's no surprise that Anders Breivik was counted as the third most searched for person; number 1 went to Eric Saade, Swedish pop sensation.

Speaking of pop sensations, it is glaringly obvious from the data pop culture is one of the main driving forces behind our search habits. In fact, whether the artist has been deemed a sensation (Adele) or an aberration (Rebecca Black), pop culture has surely won the day in search.

Some of the more peculiar entries to the lists include the various “What is...?” queries, including the 2nd most popular search term in this category in the UK: “What is Scampi?”. Where did that come from? And who would have thought that Mean Girls 2 would have been counted amongst the fastest rising movie searches in the UK?

As well as the search idiosyncrasies of a particular country, there emerged a series of topics/people/events which proved to be a global phenomenon. Some of the stand-out faces of the year included Amy Winehouse, Selena Gomez, and Steve Jobs, whose name crops up time and time again across continents.

In the field of technology, it was most definitely a battle between Google and Apple. Whilst Google Plus was the 2nd fastest rising term of the year worldwide, it was closely followed by iPhone 5 and iPad 2.

This was Google's 11th annual review of the search Zeitgeist. It offers a digital version of the more traditional “Year in Pictures” which has been a staple feature of newspapers worldwide for decades. As the search engine becomes our tool of choice for information acquisition, it seems logical that the search Zeitgeist becomes the way in which we review the year behind us; not so much what was reported, but how we searched for it. For a comprehensive breakdown of the year in Google search, visit Google Zeitgeist 2011.