Google Zeitgeist 2012: Top UK search terms puts Netflix above iPad 3, suggests few know what iCloud does
Google have released their annual Google Zeitgeist list, revealing the most searched for terms in the UK and worldwide across 2012.
While the usual list of celebrities feature prominently (the late Whitney Houston topping the list, with royal Kate Middleton in second and Take That’s Gary Barlow in third), the top tech search terms make for fascinating reading.
Even with the release of three different iPad models this year, Apple’s tablet was tipped to the post in the UK search stakes by the Netflix movie and TV streaming service. Harry Potter social netowork Pottermore makes the list, as do the ever popular Moshi Monster’s kids fad, while Diablo III is notable as the only video game to be widely searched for in 2012.
Worryingly for Apple, the second most-popular “what is” search was for their iCloud cloud storage service, suggesting the Cupertino company haven’t been successful in educating consumers as to what the product is capable of. It’s second in that search category to only “what is love?”, which is a question Tech Digest throws out into the eternal void itself everday…
The full list of top searches can be found below:
Top 10 trending UK search terms of 2012
1. Euro 2012
2. Olympic tickets
3. Whitney Houston
4. Kate Middleton
5. April Jones
6. Netflix
7. Natwest online
8. iPad 3
9. Gary Barlow
10. Gangnam Style
Top trending people
1. Whitney Houston
2. Kate Middleton
3. Gary Barlow
4. Tulisa
5. Jessica Ennis
6. Fabrice Muamba
7. Michael Clarke Duncan
8. Morgan Freeman
9. Prince Harry
10. Usain Bolt
Top trending British people
1. Kate Middleton
2. Gary Barlow
3. Tulisa
4. Jessica Ennis
5. Prince Harry
6. Tom Daley
7. Mo Farah
8. Jimmy Savile
9. Victoria Pendleton
10. Danica Thrall
Top trending news stories
1. Euro 2012
2. Olympics
3. Hurricane Sandy
4. Olympic torch route
5. Eurovision 2012
6. Whitney Houston
7. Felix Baumgartner
8. Costa Concordia
9. Lance Armstrong
10. Diamond Jubilee
Top trending UK politicians
1. Jeremy Hunt
2. Boris Johnson
3. Justine Greening
4. Alex Salmond
5. Michael Gove
6. George Osborne
7. Louise Mensch
8. Nadine Dorries
9. Keith Vaz
10. Ed Vaizey
Top trending British Olympians
1. Andy Murray
2. Tom Daley
3. Jessica Ennis
4. Mo Farah
5. Victoria Pendleton
6. Bradley Wiggins
7. Chris Hoy
8. Rebecca Adlington
9. Laura Trott
10. Louis Smith
Top trending global Olympians
1. Usain Bolt
2. Michael Phelps
3. Roger Federer
4. Yohan Blake
5. Ryan Lochte
6. Venus Williams
7. Rafael Nadal
8. Novak Djokovic
9. Tyson Gay
10. Missy Franklin
Top trending TV shows
1. Mike the Knight
2. Homeland
3. TOWIE
4. The Jonathan Ross Show
5. Celebrity Big Brother
6. Sherlock
7. The Great British Bake Off
8. Game of Thrones
9. Big Bang Theory
10. How I Met Your Mother
Top trending movies
1. Skyfall
2. Prometheus
3. The Hunger Games
4. Magic Mike
5. Taken 2
6. The Avengers
7. The Woman in Black
8. The Dictator
9. Sinister
10. The Devil Inside
Top trending music artists
1. Lucy Spraggan
2. The Military Wives
3. Will.i.am
4. Emeli Sandé
5. Psy
6. One Direction
7. The Spice Girls
8. Muse
9. Girls Aloud
10. Dizzee Rascal
Top trending songs
1. Gangnam Style
2. Call Me Maybe
3. Blow Me One Last Kiss
4. Beneath Your Beautiful
5. The Official Olympic Song (Survival by Muse)
6. Skyfall
7. Somebody That I Used To Know
8. We Are Young
9. Too Close
10. 212
Top trending fashion labels
1. Stella McCartney
2. Karl Lagerfeld
3. Victoria’s Secret
4. Alice Temperley
5. Versace
6. Mulberry
7. Marks and Spencer
8. Ossie Clark
9. Burberry
10. LK Bennett
Top trending sports
1. Synchronised swimming
2. Murderball
3. Wheelchair basketball
4. Volleyball
5. Archery
6. 100m sprint
7. Taekwondo
8. Gymnastics
9. Cycling
10. Athletics
Top tech trends
1. Netflix
2. ipad 3
3. iPad mini
4. moviestarplanet
5. Kik
6. Pottermore
7. Moshi monsters login
8. Samsung Galaxy s3
9. Superbia
10. Diablo 3
Top trending travel destinations
1. Rio de Janeiro
2. Greece
3. Brazil
4. Dubai
5. Paris
6. London
7. Bruges
8. Cornwall
9. Edinburgh
10. Barcelona
Most searched cities in Google Maps (UK)
1. London
2. Bristol
3. Manchester
4. Edinburgh
5. Brighton
6. Surrey
7. Leeds
8. Oxford
9. Cambridge
10. Birmingham
Most searched Local Places in Google Maps (UK)
1. hotel
2. restaurant
3. pubs
4. camping
5. Tesco
6. parking
7. trainstation
8. Premier Inn
9. supermarket
10. B&B
Top searches for “how to” in 2012
1. draw
2. kiss
3. make
4. crochet
5. knit
6. meditate
7. flirt
8. sing
9. hack
10. pronounce
Top searches for “what is” in 2012
1. love
2. icloud
3. 3g
4. scientology
5. instagram
6. autism
7. diabetes
8. yolo
9. illuminati
10. ms
