Google Zeitgeist 2010- Does the World Live Online?

Google Zeitgeist 2010 – Does the World Live Online?
by Linn Baumgardt
linnbaumgardt.com


Google did it again. They just released their yearly Google Zeitgeist analysis to “capture the spirit of 2010.”

Google Zeitgeist 2010 – The Winners and the Losers
According to the Google Zeitgeist 2010, swine flu is the fastest falling search term, definitely an upgrade from 2009. The fastest rising term changed from Michael Jackson to the online video chat site Chatroulette, which is followed by the iPad and Justin Bieber.

The Google Zeitgeist 2010 also shows that the world is heavily engaged with movie- and pop stars, rather than politicians and writers. Justing Bieber, Kate Perry, Selena Gomez, Kim Kardashian, and Eminem are the fastest rising search terms regarding people. Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson also made the Top 10.
Most of those personalities have a very strong fan base within the 12 to 18 year old, which is one of the first age groups that literally grew up with the Internet and cell phones. They are a market that adapts new technologies such as smartphones incredibly fast and is therefore more likely to frequently search for information online than older age groups (especially age 65+).

The Spirit of 2010 – Does the World Live Online?
In how far does the Google Zeitgeist 2010 actually “capture the spirit of 2010”?
It is safe to say that terms such as Haiti and Vancouver 2010 are “One Year Wonders” that will always remind us of global events that will inevitably be connected to the year 2010.

There is a huge trend can be observed when looking at the Google Zeitgeist 2010: We are moving our social life into the online world.
In the Top 10 fastest rising search terms in 2010, we find a video chat website(Chatroulette) , a site that offers a different media for phones (Myxer), two online gaming sites (Friv, Gamexer), and two social networks (Twitter and Facebook). Also, number two on the list is the iPad, a device that allows us to be constantly connected to the internet.

Out of the Top 10 fastest rising terms, only three are not online and technology tools whereas there are only two key words within the Top 10 fastest falling terms which are online tools (mininova and myspace layouts).

Although there are many factors that I did not consider here, the Google Zeitgeist 2010 makes it impossible to ignore that the spirit of 2010 is the world’s movement to “live online”.