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Nadine Mather and Chloë Loubser
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Google's top 2008 searched terms in SA
Released yesterday, Wednesday, 10 December 2008 was Google's annual Zeitgeist, a look at 2008 through the collective eyes of the world on the web. The 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist gives a perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends based on global searches, as well as searches conducted in South Africa and 35 additional countries.
In addition to telling us what people are curious about in SA, Google Zeitgeist tools also offer insight into which topics were of interest across the globe.
This year, for the first time since its inception in 2001, Google took a dive into global search information across more than 30 countries and published its findings all in one place: the Google Zeitgeist 2008 website. This year's global fastest rising searches show interest in global events such as the Beijing Olympics and Euro 2008, with a number of American politicians and international social networking sites showing up as well:
| Ranking | Most popular searches | Fastest rising searches | Fastest rising global queries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gumtree | sarah palin | |
| 2 | Cape Town | beijing 2008 | |
| 3 | Games | Lotto | facebook login |
| 4 | Maps | Eskom | tuenti |
| 5 | Yahoo | You Tube | heath ledger |
| 6 | News | Beeld | obama |
| 7 | Jobs | News 24 | nasza klasa |
| 8 | Yahoo mail | wer kennt wen | |
| 9 | Gmail | Chuck Norris | euro 2008 |
| 10 | Pictures | Beijing Olympics | jonas brothers |
News and politics: most popular queries for SA
| Ranking | Politicians | News stories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob Zuma | Load shedding |
| 2 | Thabo Mbeki | 2010 World Cup |
| 3 | Trevor Manuel | Beijing Olympics |
| 4 | Julius Malema | Barack Obama |
| 5 | Kgalema Motlanthe | Global Warming |
| 6 | Helen Zille | Euro 2008 |
| 7 | Fikile Mbalula | Xenophobia |
| 8 | Mbhazima Shilowa | ADT |
| 9 | Mongosuthu Buthelezi | Zimbabwe Elections |
| 10 | Blade Nzimande | COPE |
Sports and Sport teams: most popular queries for SA
| Ranking | Sports | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soccer | The Sharks |
| 2 | Golf | Kaizer Chiefs |
| 3 | Rugby | The Lions |
| 4 | Football | Mameodi Sundowns |
| 5 | Athletics | Bafana Bafana |
| 6 | Cricket | Orlando Pirates |
| 7 | Surf | Stormers |
| 8 | Tennis | Springboks |
| 9 | Netball | Cheetahs |
| 10 | Proteas |
International and Local Celebs: most popular queries for SA
| Ranking | International celebrities | Local celebrities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chuck Norris | DJ Sbu |
| 2 | Chris Brown | DJ Fresh |
| 3 | Britney Spears | DJ Cleo |
| 4 | Miley Cyrus | Kelly Khumalo |
| 5 | Heath Ledger | Danny K |
| 6 | Celine Dion | Ryk Neethling |
| 7 | Leona Lewis | Khanyi Mbau |
| 8 | Jonas Brothers | Connie Ferguson |
| 9 | Madonna | Gareth Cliff |
| 10 | Rihanna | Loyiso Bala |
Google reveals the internet "Zeitgeist" (German for "the spirit of the times") through an exploration of the millions of search queries it receives every day. In addition to the Year-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of 2008, it also has several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends. According to Google, its Zeitgeist tools can't be used to identify individual users because it relies on anonymised, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time. These tools are available year-round to play with, explore, and learn from - go to www.google.com/zeitgeist. The SA website is located at http://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/zeitgeist08-za/.
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