2012’s Top UK Internet Searches

Google Reveals 2012’s Top UK Internet Searches
The Olympics may have seemed like a safe bet for the top search term in the UK this year but, according to Google, it was eclipsed by Euro 2012. Olympic tickets came second in Google’s annual zeitgeist report, which lists 2012’s most searched-for terms. London was the most searched for city in the UK, while Rio, host of the next Summer Olympics, was the most searched-for travel destination.

Skyfall reflected its box office success, as the top trending movie.Singer Whitney Houston, who died in February, was the most searched-for person, followed by “Kate Middleton”, the Duchess of Cambridge. The people list looked very different on rival search engine Bing, which revealed its top 2012 searches a few weeks ago. Topping its global list was reality TV star Kim Kardashian, followed by singer Justin Bieber. Kim Kardashian also topped Yahoo’s most searched-for list.

Cyclist Victoria Pendleton was the most searched-for reality TV star, following her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing, while Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt beat London Mayor Boris Johnson to the top politician’s spot, according to Google. Cbeebies show Mike the Knight beat US hit Homeland to the number one spot for TV shows, with another home-grown hit, the Great British Bake Off, also making the top 10.

Some of the most interesting results are revealed in Google’s more esoteric searches. Topping the “what is” poll was “love”, followed by the far less romantic “iCloud” and “3G”. The “how to” list revealed the growing trend of reigniting old skills with “knit” and “crochet” making the top 10, alongside “draw”, “kiss” and “hack”.

Twitter Review
Twitter has also published its own review of the year. Among the microblogging service’s picks were tweets by the BBC’s Middle East Chief Paul Danahar about the Syrian uprising. It also highlighted the Olympics, the US election day and the MTV Video Music Awards as some of its most tweeted about occasions – together the three events accounted for more than 233 million posts. It added that the two most retweeted messages were President Obama’s tweet of himself hugging his wife after winning the US vote, and a picture pop star Justin Bieber posted of himself with a fan to say goodbye after she died of brain cancer.