Google and Yahoo announce 2010 top search terms


Yahoo's Year in Review reveals that the top 2010 search was for the BP oil spill.  This is the only news event in the top ten, with the other places being taken by a mixture of media and pop icons (Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber) and technology (the iPhone is in sixth place).  There are some interesting top tens on Yahoo's Year in Review blog.  In a top ten of US ‘obsessions' the political movement the Tea Party appears in 8th place, one place behind bedbugs (with the iPhone taking the number one slot).  Rather depressingly the top UK search terms were ‘lottery' followed by ‘job centre' and, in third place, ‘weather'.Meanwhile, Google's microsite Zeitgeist show the fast risers and fallers of 2010 (chatroulette and iPad are fast risers; swine flu and Susan Boyle are fast fallers).  Google Zeitgeist also has regional results.  ` In the UK, the general election dominates the top ten news searches.  In France, Cheryl Cole is number seven in the fast rising people and Super Nanny is second.  Justin Bieber seems as popular in Europe as he is in the States - he is a top people search in Sweden, France and Norway.  The Google microsite has some interesting graphics.  Using the timeline function, you can watch interest in, for example, the football World Cup, build up before and during the event.