Google released what it calls its Zeitgeist for 2008, a compilation of its most popular and fastest rising search terms. And while Obama was the No. 1 fastest rising search term on Google.com, Sarah Palin far outstripped him on Google News and Google Image Search. And Book Search was another lost avenue for him. No Dreams of My Father or The Audacity of Hope. Instead, four of the top five fastest rising search terms on Google Book Search were about vampires (three titles of the popular teen series Twilight, along with the very similar Vampire Kisses). What could that mean?
Very little actually. It’s not that the U.S. searching public cares more about vampires than its next president. As Google says, the Zeitgeist compilation is more like a “remember when” exercise than a scientific assessment:
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times.
For example, one strange data point is in the Politics section. While Obama topped the charts, followed closely by McCain and Palin, his “Yes We Can” slogan came in only seventh on the list of top campaign buzzwords, compared with “Joe the Plumber” at No. 1, “maverick” at No. 3 and “lipstick pig” at No. 6. The strange part was that SNL (for the NBC program Saturday Night Live) came in as the 8th most searched for news source, beating out not only the Huffington Post, but also the Wall St. Journal. But then again, perhaps that explains the buzzword list a bit better, since all of those terms were used relentlessly by SNL’s Tina Fey in her spot-on Sarah Palin rendition.
Some other lists aren’t nearly as entertaining, however. For example, Google’s Top of Mind list offers these top 5 search terms in order: financial crisis, depression, bailout, mortgage crisis and Wall St. Pretty depressing.
Goodbye 2008. Let’s hope 2009 is a bit sunnier.
