UK, Thursday 15th December 2011
Today, Google announced its annual Zeitgeist, offering a unique perspective on this year’s major events and hottest trends based on internet searches conducted in the UK in 2011. The Royal Wedding eclipsed everything as 2011’s fastest rising search query while the nation’s princess Kate Middleton featured in the top ten fastest rising people.
Music/film/TV
As pop princess Adele shot to superstardom on the music scene, she also topped the list of fastest rising people searches, second only to the late Jackass star Ryan Dunn. Teen flick Breaking Dawn topped the fastest rising movies list, leaving Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in its shadow. And, despite the departure of Simon Cowell, X Factor is in the top position as the fastest rising TV programme.
Celebs
Fresh from his notorious stint as MC of the Golden Globes, Ricky Gervais was the only male to break into the top ten celeb list. It wasn’t only the Royal Wedding that got people searching either; US reality star Kim Kardashian’s 72 day marriage to Kris Humphries made her the most searched celebrity of 2011 in the UK.
…and more serious pursuits!
Serious searches topped the “what is” and “how to” query lists, with British searchers keen to learn “what is AV” as they researched their choices in the alternative vote referendum, and “how to revise” to help them through the exam season.
Fastest rising searches in 2011
Fastest rising people in 2011
How to (top searches for ‘How to’ in 2011)
What is (top searches for ‘What is’ in 2011)
Fastest rising movies in 2011
Fastest rising sports terms in 2011
Top Food & Drink
Top Travel Destinations
Top UK searches in 2011
News Top 10 (top searches on news.google.co.uk)
Fastest rising football searches in 2011
Top celebrities in 2011
Fastest rising TV programme in 2011
Top tickets
Bargain hunting (top cheap searches 2011)
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
Name: Anoek Eckhardt
Telephone number: 0207 881 7688
Email address: anoek@google.com
Google reveals the internet “Zeitgeist” (German for “the spirit of the times”) through an exploration of the billions of search queries we receive each year. In addition to the Year-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of 2011, we also have several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends. Google Zeitgeist tools can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time.
Labels: English (UK), UK news announcements
