Top ten searches of 2008 on google

It’s that time of year again when Google release their zeitgeist listing the most searched for terms of 2008 split out by country – it’s like having your very own research director except you don’t get to ask specific questions.
Top tens though work well I find – it’s a proven editorial technique alongside top trumps and image galleries.

I’m always amazed though how much information the search giant is prepared to share with us the general public. Obviously it’s an edited set of data – I know for instance despite appearances some terms searched for will never appear on this top ten list.

Unlike the AOL search data nothing personally identifiable is available – although this is more to do with it being aggregated and not the raw data.

Google is in a unique position to show trends but importantly as a yearly round up this also gives us a great insight into the hopes and fears of the online population.

In the UK for instance there has been a lot of press about the banking crisis and this has meant that banks and banking in general have been popular search terms – icesave for instance was in the media for weeks so it’s no surprise that it appears top of the financial institutions list. I’m surprised though that Northern Rock hasn’t made it into the top ten considering it’s plight earlier in the year.

Fastest rising finance-related searches in the UK
icesave
hot uk deals
natwest
hmrc
hbos
money saving expert
halifax
barclays
rbs
lloyds tsb

The most searched terms in the UK for 2008 though are
Facebook
BBC
YouTube
eBay
Games
News
Hotmail
Bebo
Yahoo
Jobs

Although if you are interested the fastest rising search terms in the UK which might indicate trends for 2008 are
iPlayer
Facebook
iPhone
Youtube
Yahoo Mail
Large Hadron Collider
Obama
Friv
Cam4
Jogos

If you are interested in the most searched for politicians or recipes then you can find the rest of the top ten search terms over at Google zeitgeist

A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes

Allegedly semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen.

Gujarati Curry Cook Along

Learning to cook Gujarati curry in a Wednesday night cook off – can’t curry won’t curry or ready steady curry! In actual fact it was really easy – but that’s because all the ingredients were to hand!

Spices

Take That – The Circus only £3

I love the internet and just when you think it can’t get any better Amazon launch a new MP3 download service to compete with Apple iTunes store and sell albums from only £3 including Snow Patrol – A Hundred Million Suns, Kings of Leon – Only By The Night, Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack, Will Young – Let It Go, Girls Aloud – Tangled Up and of course not forgetting the man band currently fronting the M&S advertising campaign Take That – The Circus at Amazon for only £3

Apple pushes anti-virus for Macs

For the first time, Apple is recommending the use of anti-virus tools to protect Mac systems.
I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner in all honesty. Apple systems are becoming more and more popular and as such they will become a target for the virus makers.

The BBC website and The Register site both have more on the story. In the meantime I’d recommend ClamXav if you are running Mac OS X it’s free and frequently updated.

FNN – Facebook News Network


If I had the money to start a TV channel this would be the channel I would fund. Really funny parody of Facebook newsfeeds in a news bulletin format. Very funny from the collegehumor folks

CTU ringtone from 24

Okay so loads of people are looking for the CTU ringtone again since the new series is on TV.

The details of how to create it or the sound files are all located in previous posts.

24 CTU Ringtone

WordPress for iPhone

So I’ve been playing with wordpress again recently as I’ve been doing a blogs project at work. I’m amazed by how many new plugins there are. It makes the blog platform better than many content management systems I’ve worked with.

Also since I have an iPhone the wordpress application is a great addition. To complete the picture I’ve installed an iPhone specific theme so if you are viewing note to self on the Jesus phone you get a different view 🙂

Discovery Advert

Be warned you will not be able to get this tune out of your head!