Google 2008

People around the world conduct all of their searches on the Internet through Google. I recently looked up the top ten Google searches of 2008 in the United States on Google Zeitgeist. Here are the results:

1) Obama
2) Facebook
3) Att
4) iPhone
5) YouTube
6) Fox News
7) Palin
8) Beijing 2008
9) David Cook
10) Surf the channel

The top five Google image searches in the United States for 2008 were:
1) Sarah Palin
2) Obama
3) Twilight
4) Miley Cyrus
5) Joker

It is so interesting to look at these results because they reveal so much about our culture. It isn’t surprising to see that Obama and Palin were in the top ten because this was an election year and there was a lot of intrigue and controversy surrounding both Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. However, it is surprising that five out of the ten top web searches were about new technology. This goes to show how much technology like the iPhone and YouTube has impacted our lives. I admit I have never heard of Surf the channel before I saw it in this list, but I looked it up and it is a website that provides links to millions of videos through different websites and TV channels. David Cook being in the top ten exposes how much of an impact American Idol has had on our culture and how celebrities are idolized. Despite the recession and harsh economic times, surprisingly nothing about this appeared in the top ten web searches. The image results are similar. Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are featured again in this list. The last three consist of celebrities, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart from Twilight, Miley Cyrus and Heath Ledger who plays the Joker in Batman. Clearly, we live in a celebrity obsessed society and crave for new technology and change. I wonder if this trend will continue? Who knows what the results will be for 2009?