Google Zeitgeist 2005

December 20, 2005 2:50 PM

Google Zeitgeist 2005
World Affairs Nature Movies Celebrities Phenomena
posted by Mwongozi (25 comments total)

Janet Jackson is still going strong in 2005? Wow.
posted by narebuc at 2:58 PM on December 20, 2005

World of Warcraft is #8. That's ....phenomenal.
posted by thanotopsis at 3:02 PM on December 20, 2005

I've been waiting for this to be posted so I could say:

Top gainer #5: "orkut"

YEAH RIGHT!
posted by scarabic at 3:09 PM on December 20, 2005

Are the the graphs that show heartbeat-like patterns due to fewer weekend searches?
posted by the jam at 3:11 PM on December 20, 2005

Those top 10's make for some depressing reading.

Why is Janet Jackson at the top of the news searches, while no words relating to Iraq make the top 10? Wait, don't answer that. And am I in the dark over some Janet Jackson related happening, or is this still related to her ugly, saggy breast and it's vile piercing which made its appearance in February 2004?
posted by fire&wings at 3:12 PM on December 20, 2005

It may have something to do with the video that surfaced of Janet and her nipply appendages sunbathing naked.
posted by emelenjr at 3:28 PM on December 20, 2005

wow. ipod nano is the 10th froogle search... and it only came out in september.
posted by heeeraldo at 3:37 PM on December 20, 2005

Wow... Apple has #1, #4, #8 and #10 in Froogle searches. Pretty impressive.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:10 PM on December 20, 2005

I think a lot of the Janet Jackson searches probably had to do with that rumor that was floating around a few months ago that she had a teenaged child that she had kept hidden from the public. It was a pretty big entertainment news story when it first came out. WHY was it news? Don't ask me.
posted by LeeJay at 4:11 PM on December 20, 2005

"Oil" didn't even make the list? Color me suprised.
posted by sourwookie at 4:15 PM on December 20, 2005

The main site, google news, and froogle... Gee I wonder why they didn't post the results for image searches?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 4:26 PM on December 20, 2005

Google Press Centre: Zeitgeist - Google Image Searches - scroll down.

Kind of prosaic, and probably edited.

Popular Concepts
October 2005
1. love
2. funny
3. devil
4. fairies
5. cool
posted by PurplePorpoise at 5:15 PM on December 20, 2005

Yeah, that's a pantload. And coincidentally, "pantload" is the real number 4.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 5:36 PM on December 20, 2005

What a depressingly boring year. Or so I would read Google's Zeitgeist.
posted by loquacious at 5:43 PM on December 20, 2005

It's mildly interesting. But many of the line items were just a demonstration of "hey, check out how people start searching for something when it's in the news." Are we really that surprised that "Ratzinger" enjoyed a spike?
posted by scarabic at 5:47 PM on December 20, 2005

This explains everything.
posted by ryoshu at 5:54 PM on December 20, 2005

The google zeitgeist used to be interesting. (example)

They used to show browser and OS market share and all sorts of other cool stuff. They also made it easy to click on the searches and see search results for yourself.

On the other hand, this one looks like it was put together by a staff writer for USA Today.
posted by sucka_mc at 6:24 PM on December 20, 2005

Those top ten news searches make me sick. Weren't we supposed to get away from all that trivial bullshit and concentrate on international affairs after 9/11?
posted by marxchivist at 6:57 PM on December 20, 2005

Are we really that surprised that "Ratzinger" enjoyed a spike?

Is that what all the cool Cardinals are calling it these days?
posted by dhartung at 7:21 PM on December 20, 2005

fire&wings said: Those top 10's make for some depressing reading.

Hold that thought and check out Wordtracker's Current Top 30 Keywords. Here's their top 10:

1 games cheat
2 google
3 save katie
4 ebay
5 paris hilton
6 christmas
7 bumper stickers
8 playstation 2 cheats
9 tom kills oprah
10 poetry

I subscribed briefly to WT's "top 500 frequently searched words on the Internet", but it was too depressing.

Never underestimate the banality of the American public.
posted by cenoxo at 7:26 PM on December 20, 2005

Perhaps I'm being obtuse, but why is the "London" result so cyclical?
posted by Kwantsar at 7:29 PM on December 20, 2005

nice one, dhartung
posted by scarabic at 7:43 PM on December 20, 2005

scarabic nails it!

also, if Yahoo were a top search or top gainer, would Google allow that to show in the zeitgeist?

and, is it true they filter porn from this list or does it actually just not spawn as many queries?
posted by superfem at 9:42 PM on December 20, 2005

On the other hand, this one looks like it was put together by a staff writer for USA Today.

Ugh, thank you! I want my old-school zeitgeist back!
posted by joshuaconner at 2:29 AM on December 21, 2005

Yeah, no kidding. This is starting to look really corporate, and doesn't say anything at all.
posted by dead_ at 7:34 AM on December 21, 2005