Each year, Google publishes their trending searches for the last 12 months and while these used to be called Google’s Zeitgeist, they’ve renamed things to “Google Trends”. Broken up into different categories, this year’s search trends certainly make for interesting reading. As always, the main trends are of course those associated with major news stories or world events, but it’s no less interesting to see what people wanted to know about. Here, I’m going to take a look at some of the more interesting results from this year’s searches, and you can take a look at the full list at the source link below.
Obviously, we’re going to focus on the Consumer Electronics results, and it’s no surprise that the iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 came first and second, respectively. What was a surprise to me was to see the Moto G there, at number four, with the Nexus 6 coming in third. Clearly, there’s more buzz around Motorola devices than ever before and I’m willing to bet it’s the Moto G’s low price point and the Nexus 6’s massive footprint that have coaxed people to find out more about them. As a happy PS4 owner, I was surprised to see the Xbox One in at number seven with no mention of Sony’s console. Still, it’s clear the Xbox One has bounced back somewhat throughout 2014. A curiosity among the results was the “Samsung Note 4”, it seems people don’t see the Galaxy Note 4 as part of the same line that Samsung does.
In terms of general searches, Robin Williams, the World Cup and Ebola took the top three spots, in that order. With Flappy Bird appearing at number six and the Ice Bucket Challenge one position above at number five.
Elsewhere in the list of trending topics, Ebola tops the “Global News” category, with Ferguson coming in fifth and ISIS in at number two. The World Cup section made for interesting reading, with Google listing the Top 10 trending matches, with Brazil featured five times, and yes, Germany V Brazil took the top spot. Bra There’s a section for “Loss” this year, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that 2014 saw the tragic loss of Robin Williams. An entertainer I grew up watching onscreen in films like Flubber, and a personal favorite of mine on any talk show, sure to liven up any generic Hollywood sofa. Take a look at the full list at the source link and look back over 2014.