Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has just released its Zeitgeist report, which reveals some very interesting search trends for this year. This is the twelfth year Google has posted its search trends, which it calls Zeitgeist, or “spirit of the time.”
This year’s Zeitgeist covers 1.2 trillion searches in 146 different languages. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has put together a video, spotlighting some of the biggest trends in online searches this year. The search engine giant also separates the trends into several categories, including searches, images, athletes, events, people, and more.
For 2012, the term most searched on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was Whitney Houston, the well-known pop singer, who died in February. The song “Gagnam Style” by the South Korean musician PSY came in second, and third place belongs to Hurricane Sandy. The iPad 3 and Diablo 3 round out the top five searches on Google this year.
Top image searches for the year include One Direction, Selena Gomez, and the iPhone 5, while the top events included Hurricane Sandy, the release of some questionable photos of Kate Middleton, and the Olympics 2012. The major films searched on Google this year were The Hunger Games, Skyfall, and Prometheus.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) even covered the top hashtags searched this year. Of course hashtags have to do with Twitter postings. This year’s most-searched hashtags include #SOPA, #Awesome, and #Sandy. To view the full Zeitgeist report, click here.
Google isn’t the only tech giant to launch a “best of” list for 2012 today. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) also launched its “Year in Review 2012,” which highlights the people, events, and topics which created the most buzz on the social media site this year.
