Hurricane Sandy, Amanda Todd among top Google 2012 searches

Added by on December 12, 2012

Google released its list of top searches in 2012 that includes Hurricane Sandy, IPad 3, Amanda Todd, and SOPA.

Google on Wednesday released its list of top searches in 2012 that include Hurricane Sandy, IPad 3, Amanda Todd, and SOPA.

Google publishes top global and country-specific search terms near the end of each year in it’s Google Zeitgeist – an aggregation of billions of search queries the world’s leading search engine receives every day.

New in this year’s Google Zeitgeist is a breakdown of searches from 55 countries and subdivided into topics that include images, people, events, consumer electronics, and top hashtags (topics) within it’s Google+ social network.

The 2012 global list includes Amanda Todd, the Canadian teenager that committed suicide after having been bullied for a number of years; Apple’s IPad 3, Hurricane Sandy, and SOPA – the controversial US Stop Online Piracy Act.

Highlights of previous years include – World trade center (2001); Winter olympics (2002); earthquake (2003); Lord of the rings (2004); Harry Potter (2005); Wold cup (2006); IPhone (2007); Beijing 2008 (2008); Michael Jackson (2009); IPad (2010); Steve jobs (2011).

The top Australian searches for 2012 include skydiver Felix Baumgartner, model Miranda Kerr, olympian Stephanie Rice, and XXXX (fourex) beer.

Bing and Yahoo previously released their top 2012 searches. Bing says its 2012 top searches include iPhone 5; 2012 Olympics; Kim Kardashian; and Beyonce’s baby. Yahoo’s Year in Review includes Hurricane Sandy; Mega Millions; and Kony 2012.

“Lists like this put the year into perspective. We’re so close to whatever is happening right now, it’s easy to overlook the world’s events and accomplishments during the past year,” said Erik West, editor of The Australian Eye News.

Find out more about each search engine’s year in review: