What do Bebo & Paris Hilton have in common?

Posted December 21, 2006 at 02:25 PM by Darrick Rochili

Section: Tech News, Web, Websites

Answer: they’re the most searched terms in Google.com and Google News respectively.

Some interesting keywords make up 2006’s most popular searches from Google Zeitgeist. On the Google.com searches, it’s interesting to note that quite a few of them are social networking type sites, such as MySpace, MetaCafe, RadioBlog and Bebo (I must have really put a huge sign in my brain to these things considering the number coming up every day on the internet, since I’ve only heard of MySpace). Rounding up the top ten are the usual information sources such as Wikipedia, the world cup (Forza Italia!) and torrent/movie related queries such as Mininova.

While on the Google News searches, surprise surprise, Paris Hilton came up as the top search of 2006, with Orlando Bloom coming in second and Martina Hingis rounding up the searches about actual people. Hurricane Katrina of course makes the news due to the devastation it caused, as well as cancer and autism on the health related queries. It also seems that pod casting is gaining some popularity as people are trying to understand how it can impact their lives. Maybe these are the people who are seeking news about bankruptcy (also top 10 news searches) and trying to find another potential career choice?

Overall, can’t really say I’m surprised with the results. These social networking sites (or some evolution of them) are popping up at a ridiculous rate, be it relating to video, personals, radio, or business; probably due to the success of YouTube, Friendster, MySpace and a few others, many people are trying to cash in through it. My next question is this: why does Paris Hilton attract so much attention? I mean, aren’t there any more interesting news subjects than Hilton’s heiress?

Read [Google Zeitgeist]