Google’s ‘2018 Year in Search’ review shows South Africans are increasingly becoming more interested in local major events, current affairs and sports.
The ‘Year in South African Search’ list, pulling trending topics from January 1 to December 5, examine the people, places, news and things that were trending over the past 12 months.
“This year’s trending searches show South Africans’ keen interest in local celebrities, news and events, with six of the top ten trending search terms being local. The ‘top personalities’ list also reflects this – three of the top ten are politicians, two are sports stars, and the other five related to current affairs and news events,” says Google South Africa head of public affairs and communications Mich Atagana.
Every year, the list is becoming more locally focused, with South African artists on YouTube making the trending list for the first time in 2018 and local sports topics a continuing trending topic daily.
South Africans’ top 10 trending searches include World Cup Fixtures; load-shedding; Global Citizen; Jacob Zuma; Winnie Mandela; HHP; Listeriosis; Black Panther; Meghan Markle; and Mac Miller.
The sports-specific focus as searched by locals and in order of popularity comprised World Cup Fixtures; PSL Log; Kevin Anderson; Ashwin Willemse; SA vs Australia; Sundowns vs Barcelona; SA vs India; Alex Sanchez; Commonwealth Games and Winter Olympics.
The trending personalities and names, as searched, were Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa, Sbahle Mpisane, Anderson, Malusi Gigaba, Willemse, Patrice Motsepe, Cheryl Zondi, Shamila Batohi and Mlindo the Vocalist.
Further, South Africans use the ‘near me’ query often, with jobs the number one searched ‘near me’ query, followed by Nandos, Dischem, McDonalds, Guest, Postnet, Steers, Spar, Debonairs and Spur ‘near me’ searches.
The ‘near me’ list shows “just how much South Africans have come to rely” on online sources to find businesses close to them, Atagana points out.
“The ‘top questions’ list shows South Africans’ awareness of and curiosity about what is happening in the world around them – from celebrities to more personal concerns,” she adds.
The ‘top questions’ list included: How did Avicii die? How old is Pharrell Williams? What is listeriosis? What is black data? How old is Prince Harry? How much are Global Citizen tickets? How does one fall pregnant? What time is the royal wedding? What happened to HHP? and How old is Markle?
The top women being searched by South Africans were Mandela, Markle, Mpisane, Aretha Franklin, Khloe Kardashian, Sophie Ndaba, Zondi, Demi Lovato, Lerato Sengadi and Siam Lee.
In the few weeks from December 5 to December 31, sports dominated the trending searches in South Africa.