Google tells us what we searched for in 2008

Our friends on the Googles have published their 2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist. Of course, this is the SFW edition.

Google’s users are intrinsically curious. Why else would you search? And, since we at Google are pretty curious ourselves, we wondered which of our users’ queries might be truly global and which may be unique to certain cultures. This is why, for the first time, our annual Year-End Zeitgeist features search data from more than 30 countries.

So, what do we in this global village have in common? Mainly a strong interest in socializing and politics. Social networks comprised four out of the top 10 global fastest-rising queries, while the U.S. election held everyone’s interest around the globe. Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, may have lost in the election, but she was the #1 fastest-rising query on our global list (Obama was #6). – from Google

As the year comes to a close, it’s time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times. We’ve compiled some of the highlights from Google searches around the globe and hope you enjoy looking back as much as we do.

Fastest Rising (Global)

1. sarah palin
2. beijing 2008
3. facebook login
4. tuenti
5. heath ledger
6. obama
7. nasza klasa
8. wer kennt wen
9. euro 2008
10. jonas brothers

Google.com – Fastest Rising (U.S.)

1. obama
2. facebook
3. att
4. iphone
5. youtube
6. fox news
7. palin
8. beijing 2008
9. david cook
10. surf the channel

Movie Trailers*

1. dark knight
2. iron man
3. hulk
4. star wars
5. indiana jones
6. twilight
7. spiderman
8. superman
9. terminator
10. harry potter

With 2008 coming to an end, the data miners at Google, which performs more than 60 percent of searches worldwide, have compiled their Zeitgeist lists of the most popular search terms. These latest lists include these categories: U.S., top of mind, politics, trendsetters, showbiz, sports, and around the world.

In the category of fastest-rising global searches (comparing 2007 with 2008 searches), Sarah Palin comes in at No. 1 and President elect Barack Obama at No. 6, trailing “beijing 2008,” “facebook login,” Tuenti” (the equivalent of Facebook in Spain), and “Heath Ledger.” – from CNET

The top-level Zeitgeist lists are not too surprising (they never are). The most interesting trends reveal themselves only when you dive deeper. For instance, in terms of search popularity, we find that “facebook” beat out “myspace,” the “martini” beat out the “mojito,” and “ice cream” beat out “chili.” – from Techcrunch

Globally, the president-elect was beaten by his vanquished rival for the vice-presidency, Sarah Palin. The Governor of Alaska topped the the worldwide list of fastest rising queries. Mr Obama was only sixth in the list of top climbers, just behind the late Heath Ledger, who played the Joker in the latest Batman remake. He died in January after taking an overdose of prescription drugs. – from Here

But we all know the real most popular phrase was probably Sarah Palin Naked