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Last year, deceased pop icon Michael Jackson and other news-making celebrities of two thousand nine grabbed the attention on the Internet. But this year, it seems, it’s the starlets of Silicon Valley — and not Hollywood — that set the Web on fire.
Geek is officially chic, at least according to the standard-bearer of geek culture, Google.
The tech giant today released its annual "zeitgeist" report on the greatest Web searches of two thousand ten — and seven of the top ten fastest-rising U.S. searches of the year reference popular technology products and Web services.
The iPad — that "truly magical" device introduced to the world by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in January — nabbed the number one spot on the list.
It was followed by other technological phenomena that made headlines this year, including the viral movie talk site Chatroulette at No. Two, Apple’s iPhone four at No. Three and Facebook at No. 7.
"What we’re witnessing in two thousand ten in the U.S., based on our look at the top-rising queries, is indeed that technology is a indeed big theme," said Jonathan Effrat, a product manager on Google’s search team. "It’s truly taking off compared to last year."
Twitter may have topped the list last year and Facebook ranked number Three, but this year’s list shows that interest in technology has truly ballooned, he said. Even the foot celebrity to make the list — teenage idol Justin Bieber (who ranked fifth) — commenced out as an Internet sensation.
The World Cup, which grabbed the fourth spot on the list, made Internet history of its own by violating records for Internet traffic and live streamed movie views.
Effrat said it’s not just technology that emerges as a trend in this year’s zeitgeist but, in particular, the social Web and mobile technology.
"For many years now, it seemed like mobile was on the forefront. This is the very first year that we’ve seen that reflected in the searches," he said.
Here’s the total list of Google’s fastest-rising searches for the U.S. in 2010:
Two. Chatroulette (social website that pairs strangers for videocam talks)
Five. Justin Bieber
6. Myxer (free ringtones, MP3s, wallpaper)
8. Grooveshark (Internet radio site)
9. Glee (Fox TV demonstrate)
Ten. Mocospace (popular mobile social network)
Google Zeitgeist Gives ‘Spirit of the Times’
Each year, Google analyzes billions of search queries, across Google.com, Google Maps, Google Photos and other Google products, to compile its annual zeitgeist — or "spirit of the times" — report.
To truly highlight what makes each year unique, Google said its annual list of the overall fastest-rising terms ranks searches by how much they gained in popularity year over year, not by how frequently the terms were queried on Google.
The general list gives a quick overview of what caught the collective mind’s attention over the course of the year, but Google goes a step beyond to rank the most popular searches in a range of categories, including news, celebrities, sports, recipes and more.
The fastest-rising person in the U.S. in two thousand ten was Justin Bieber, the fastest-rising sports search was "World Cup Schedule" and the fastest rising photo search was Jersey Shore.
The BP oil spill topped the list of news searches in two thousand ten (swine flu was the No. One news search last year), and was followed by Haiti and Earthquake.
On a related note, Effrat said that, presumably because of these disasters, searches for "donate" were at the highest since the tsunami.
Apple’s iPad also took the top spot on Google’s list of the fastest-rising terms globally, but was followed by Justin Bieber at No. Two, Facebook at No. Three and Twitter at No. Four.
Google also manages to mine its data to pull out a few extra quirky tidbits every year. On the list of the fastest-rising costumes, for example, reality starlet Snooki took the top spot. The most searched for haircut was L’il Wayne and the most searched for dance budge was the dougie dance.
Despite the variations year to year, Effrat said some things stay static. Chili, for example, has topped the list of the most searched for recipes for two years running (followed by other convenience foods, such as pizza, banana bread and cheesecake).
Google also ranks the fastest-rising diets, workouts, commercials and more. For total rankings of several of Google Zeitgeist’s list, click on to the next page.
Google Zeitgeist Lists Range From Serious to the Stupid
Top ten Fastest Rising Search Terms two thousand ten (Global)
Two. Justin Bieber
Five. Chatroulette (social movie talking site)
7. Friv (free online games)
8. Myxer (free ringtones, MP3s, wallpaper)