Serendipity35

People search because they want to know about things. Curiosity is generally a good thing, especially in the education world. The people who work at search companies are also curious - about what we are curious about.

Google does a Year-End Zeitgeist that has search data from more than 30 countries and Yahoo! has a year review from it's Buzz site.

If you read any of these searched names or terms and shake your head and say "Huh? Who or what is that?" then you had better do a search on it yourself right now, or take the risk of feeling left out at that New Year's Eve party. I can carry on a reasonably decent conversation now about Boyd and American hot rods or Brad Renfro's filmography. I have to say that those will probably be better conversation starters than explaining how to create a custom theme in Moodle!

What are the two big global search trends? Socializing and politics. Social networks are 4 of the top 10 global fastest-rising queries. Our two-year long U.S. election had search action around the globe. Sarah Palin lost in the election, but won as the fastest-rising query on their global list. (Obama was #6)

I can't explain why in Poland, the #5 term was "Jozin z Bazin." The Google Blog told me that it's an old 1978 Czech song that roughly translates to, "Joe of the Swamp" and that it was a sensation on YouTube, - but, as Yoda might say, explain it I cannot. Try humming a few bars as you approach someone at the bar...

Here are some results:

Fond Farewells 1. heath ledger 2. bernie mac 3. tim russert 4. isaac hayes 5. george carlin 6. brad renfro 7. randy pausch 8. paul newman 9. boyd coddington 10. michael crichton

"Fastest rising" is the phrase they use for the most popular searches conducted for 11 months of 2008 based on how much their frequency increased compared to 2007. The Fastest Rising (in the U.S.) were 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

Google's translation service (it's good for a word or phrase; it won't do your French homework) Fastest Rising (U.S.) words searched for a translation - 1. you 2. what 3. thank you 4. please 5. love

How about the most popular cocktails searched?  1. martini 2. mojito 3. margarita 4. manhattan 5. cosmopolitan 6. sangria 7. bellini 8. mai tai 9. white russian 10. bloody mary

And there is plenty more on Showbiz, Sports and the big old world.

The Yahoo! Buzz Year in Review has a decidedly more pop culture focus. But, looking at their searches under ECONOMICS, we get a pretty good picture of the year.

1. IRS Stimulus Checks 2. Oil Prices 3. Gold Prices 4. Gas Prices 5. Dow Jones 6. Sallie Mae 7. Stock Market 8. AIG 9. Foreclosures 10. Debt Consolidation

I do like that Yahoo! (must I use that annoying ! when I type Yahoo?) includes some explanation and additional links with the lists which would be useful if you were going to use this in the classroom to have students discuss or write about the year, current events or trends.

The most searched WOMEN were a mixed group: 1 Angelina Jolie 2 Sarah Palin 3 Oprah Winfrey 4 Hillary Clinton 5 Gina Carano 6 Tina Fey 7 Michelle Obama 8 Katie Couric 9 Barbara Walters 10 Dara Torres