The iPad has made it into Google’s 2010 top ten list of fastest rising search terms.
Ranking in at number three, the tablet PC was beaten to the top spot by controversial social media platform Chatroulette and question-answer site Formspring.
The annual Year-End Zeitgeist study compiles all of the searches made over the course of the year to highlight the most popular items and services consumers searched for during a circumscribed time period. The snapshot results are useful signs for businesses as well as interesting for the general public who can gain access into the rest of the UKs mindset.
The British obsession with social networking and technology was mirrored in the overall search term winner, Facebook. This was followed by the words BBC, Youtube, Hotmail and eBay.
The word Google itself took sixth place beating general search terms like ‘you’, ‘games’, ‘mail’ and ‘news’. Web surfers also searched for Take That tickets, cheap flights and Justine Bieber. The term ‘Cheryl Cole divorce’ was another top favourite.
Matt Brittin, of Google, said: “Google Search gives us a peek into what made Britain tick in 2010. It reveals the most talked about celebrity divorce of the year – and the hottest tickets and shows we are turning to the internet for to help bag a bargain”.
Last year’s hottest news search was swine flu followed by Susan Boyle, Jade Goody and Robert Pattinson.
The list is compiled by studying the billions of queries people type into Google everyday to best reflect “the spirit of the times”.
