In the wake of similar lists from Yahoo and Ask.com, Google has released its Zeitgeist 2008, a comprehensive look at the top searches of 2008.
Unlike the other lists, Zeitgest doesn't focus on the most popular searches, at least not in the United States. Instead the results are listed as “Fastest Rising," meaning that the popularity of top terms is contrasted against that of the previous year.
Google said the reasoning behind this was that simply distilling the top search terms wasn't very compelling, meaning that a list would contain items like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail and, of course, sex. Rather than being a list of pop culturally relevant terms, it would likely be people searching for popular Web sites and, perhaps, pornography.
I asked nicely if they could pass along that informa
Unlike the other lists, Zeitgest doesn't focus on the most popular searches, at least not in the United States. Instead the results are listed as “Fastest Rising," meaning that the popularity of top terms is contrasted against that of the previous year.
Google said the reasoning behind this was that simply distilling the top search terms wasn't very compelling, meaning that a list would contain items like Gmail and Yahoo! Mail and, of course, sex. Rather than being a list of pop culturally relevant terms, it would likely be people searching for popular Web sites and, perhaps, pornography.
I asked nicely if they could pass along that informa
