So Google has published its 2008 Zeitgeist, letting us know what kinky things us netizens (time warp: 1998) have been searching for during the year. The interesting parts of the results weren't the terms that hit the top ten, but the terms that weren't on the top ten, especially in the UK.
First off, where's credit crunch? I stopped watching news reports more than once a week because I can't get away from the term, and yet it's not factored into the top ten results. Maybe it's because we're bombarded with credit crunch this and financial markets that - we're sick of hearing about it and therefore don't search for it. An interesting aside I found from the Times Online; the term credit crunch had been used in a report by the US Federal Reserve way before our time in 1967, so it's not one of those insta-hit catchphrases that a worried broker coined when subprime issues really started to become a problem.
Of the top ten UK searches, I recognize 7. Terms like BBC's iPlayer, the iPhone, and Barack Obama are hardly surprising results. I have to admit that I've never heard of Friv, Cam4 and Jogos - although there's a reason I'm not linking to the latter two. It's worth noting that they're rising searches, and just like Sarah Palin might fall off the list for Google's 2009 Zeitgeist.
iPhone fell one place from 2007, and only Facebook survived the year to still claim a spot in the 2008 list. What does that mean for social networking? It certainly doesn't signal doom and gloom, but I'd venture an opinion that it does signal the maturation of social networks (and following on from that, a hard audience to crack if you're creating a new social network - sorry, Hoff).
If you get a chance, look back at some of the most popular search queries in years gone by. Five years ago, Prince Charles, Winnie the Pooh and Eastenders topped the popularity polls in the UK, while way back in 2001 (when the first Google Zeitgeist was released), search queries were naturally dominated by Nostradamus, the World Trade Center and anthrax.
There's nothing earth-shattering to be revealed in the Google Zeitgeist. It's meant to be a finger on the pulse of the world, and it's a pretty accurate one at that. Social networking, world events, entertainment and recipes for cupcakes and meatballs - pretty much sums up 2008, doesn't it?
