Google Zeitgeist 2008

bahstid writes "As the year comes to a close, it's time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times. While the global aggregated results are what one might expect, the breakdown by country is filled with 'hotmail,' 'yahoo' and 'facebook,' indicating that in 2008 your average user still hasn't quite grasped this address bar thing." This year's focus on the US presidential election and the economic crisis made for some interesting trends. It also seems that many Americans frequently checked their Facebook profile while watching American Idol and wondering who Sarah Palin was.

Comments

Re:to be fair

[zmjjmz]

Most of the browsers released in 2008 will go to the site automatically if you type the name of the site (i.e. facebook or digg) automatically.

And in 2008...

[Anonymous Coward]

...the submitter still hasn't grasped the "I'm feeling lucky" feature in the browser. Typing facebook in the adressbar in Firefox will use Googles "I'm feeling lucky" thing and take you facebook.com

Duh!

Re:fast risers

[BluBrick]

They are all social networking sites. Spanish (tuenti - no translation available from Google), German (Wer-kennt-wen = who knows whom), and Polish(nasza klasa = Our class).

Apparently even foreigners use Google to find Facebook-y, MySpace-y, time-waste-y websites! Whodathunkit?

Re:Can't figure out the address bar?

[oakgrove]

When the mistake drops down, highlight it and press shift+delete.

Re:to be fair

[DeadPixels]

Agreed. It's a lot easier for me to hit ctrl+t, tab, enter, and type a site name than it is for me to mouse up to the address bar, select it all, delete it, and retype the address before hitting enter. Plus, Google's a lot more forgiving of typos than the address bar is...

Re:Can't figure out the address bar?

[blurryrunner]

Or just use the arrows to select the entry and hit delete.

br/

Re:to be fair

[Gordonjcp]

Firefox does this by... Googling what you typed into the address bar.

Re:to be fair

[dotancohen]

Sadly my boss still types full site urls into the text input box on google... trying to convince him to use the address bar has repeatedly failed.

I do the opposite for the mother in law. I don't want her typing in yahooo.com by mistake and getting malware. Google generally won't lead you that far astray.