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Thursday, December 9, 2010

What is the World doing ? Yahoo Year in Review – Top 10 searches.

The popularity of a Website or even that of a blog is in a way determined by the hits (no. of visitors).  Have you heard of Stegani Joanne Angelina Germanotta or for that matter of a reality television competition in US to find  singing talent.

Can you bracket these :  BP Oil Spill, FIFA World Cup, Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Iphone, Megan Fox, Justin Bieber, American Idol, Britney Spears

T0  me only very few of them are names heard of.  Again what a combination of Pop singers with inanimate I phone and a man made disaster !!

They are part of a famous list, of course.  They represent the top 10 searches in Yahoo in 2010.   Since 2001, Yahoo has been putting out a list of lists -  “What are people searching for online ?”  that is Yahoo! Year in Review which reflects the expansion of the Web.

For a decade  the good looking  Britney Spears ruled the Internet.  In the annual Yahoo! top searches list, she played second fiddle to PlayStation 2 in 2001 and 2002.  she was relegated by two places in the next two years.    She jumped back and reined no. 1 in 2005 for some more time.  She ain’t popular any longer going by the searches made about her.  May be a scandal free person does not help !!,

For the uninformed like me, Mile  Miley Ray Cyrus  born in 1992 is an American actor, singer-songwriter, voice actress and pop singer. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana. In July 2008, Cyrus released her first solo album, Breakout (2008), which was commercially successful.

The popular this year was the man-made disaster – billions of queries on that story of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill – perhaps the first time a news story on top and not the news of persons.  Is the World tilting towards learning and knowledge orientation ??

The second was also an event – the most followed sporting event at that – the FIFA World Cup.  In olden days, we used to remember the events and things associated with them.  Now we jump at an opportunity to do a google search on them.  You would remember ‘Paul the Octopus’ but perhaps not the finals and who won !  don’t worry.

The 19th FIFA edition was held in South Africa from 11th June to 11th July this year (2010) – matches were held in 10 different stadiums and the final took place at Johannesburg.  Of the 32 teams that qualified, sixteen advanced to knockout stage.  The finals was a match between Euro champion Spain against the Netherlands.   Andres Iniesta’s goal in the extra time (116th minute) gave Spain their first title.
Besides the ladies, there is the techonolgy of I phone which captivated searches.  Phones are perhaps a craze everywhere in the World and hopefully, Western world users are seasoned and do not talk when driving two / four wheelers and walking on the road.

It is most irritating and unfortunate that everywhere on Indian roads you have the hideous sight of heads crossed to reach the shoulder pressing the mobile in between – whilst walking, driving and everything else.  People do not spare a moment and cannot restraint look into their handsets – checking and sending messages when waiting at road signals.  Funny and dangerous……

May the Western world would keep themselves busy debating whether it is the end of the world for Britney Spears or whether she is ageing as she drooped from no. 1 to 10th – still in the limelight.

I have not heard of - Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta  1986 born -   better known by her stage name Lady Gaga,  an American pop singer.

American Idol is a reality television competition to find new solo singing talent.  Part of the Idol franchise, it was created by Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show Pop Idol. Debuting on June 11, 2002, as American Idol: The Search for a Superstar on the Fox network, the show has since become one of the most popular in the history of American television. It is currently the most-watched TV series in the Nielsen ratings.

In this exponential world, people are searching for information all the time.  Google receives several hundred million queries each day through its various services.  There are text, image, maps and other searches.  Google search provides at least 22 special features beyond the original word-search such as synonyms, weather forecasts, timezone, stock quote, earthquake data, movie showtime, airports, home listing and sports scores.   What were people doing a few decades earlier – well there cannot be a direct answer. 

In case you are interested in knowing the top 10 Burning Questions :
They are :   How to Tie a Tie ? ; 2. How to Lose Weight ; 3. How to Kiss ; 4. How to Write a Resume ; 5. What’s the World’s Only Immortal Animal? ;  6. Which City Has the Best Tap Water? ; 7. Which Natural Disaster Shortened Earth’s Days?  8. What Is Love? ; 9. What Causes Lightning?  and 10. How to Boil an Egg

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.


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