bit-tech.net

'Bebo' most searched for on Google

Published on 21st December 2006 by Ryan Garside

Google's top 10 search lists provided some surprising results.

Google has compiled a rather interesting series of lists of the most popular search words and phrases in 2006.

Top of the searches in 2006 was social networking website Bebo, followed by another social-networker; Myspace. The list is representative of popular culture, with almost every student in the UK and US signed up to at least one online community and their size growing every year.

Below are the two lists Google is featuring on its zeitgeist page:

Google.com - Top Searches in 2006

Google News - Top Searches in 2006

Interesting to see that wikipedia is on the list twice with 'wiki' and 'wikipedia'. Rebelde, a Mexican television series where a group of school children form a band, surprisingly makes it onto the list - it hasn't been aired in the UK yet though I for one can't wait. Bit-torrent website, Mininova, managed to grab 9th place proving illegal downloads are still as popular as ever.

The zeitgeist also includes information on some other novelty sections. For instance, in the What's Hot section, number 9 on the 'Who is list' is the question: "Who is Buckethead?" Answers on a postcard please.

The zeitgeist is definitely worth a look, if only because of its interest as a sociological study. Jump in the forums and give us your impressions on Google's search statistics.

26 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

DougEdey 21st December 2006, 11:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

1. define promiscuos

says it all for me :P

Lazlow 21st December 2006, 11:17

It makes a change from a few years back, when the most searched for was 'sex' and 'pamela anderson'.

Edhi 21st December 2006, 11:19

More proof that people are stupid ...

"Hey, I wanna go on myspace, what's the address?"
"Um ... it's called myspace. So why not try myspace.com? Ya know, JUST A THOUGHT!"
"Oooh dunno, better google for it."

Tyinsar 21st December 2006, 12:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edhi
More proof that people are stupid ...

"Hey, I wanna go on myspace, what's the address?"
"Um ... it's called myspace. So why not try myspace.com? Ya know, JUST A THOUGHT!"
"Oooh dunno, better google for it."

BWAHAHAHA I think i know some of those people. :(

Edit: What on Earth is "Bebo" anyway? I'm curious but don't want to search it & feed the buzz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

1. define promiscuos

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougEdey
says it all for me :P

:D a "nicer" way to say slut - I, however, was amused by Define *** (#3) - And I see Bit-Tech has banned that.

Bindibadgi 21st December 2006, 12:16

No way, I had money on it being "Porn" "Torrent" "free music" "allmymp3"

Tyinsar 21st December 2006, 12:24

How To #5
How To Scream? If you need instructions :? :( :(

CraZy 21st December 2006, 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
No way, I had money on it being "Porn" "Torrent" "free music" "allmymp3"

yes it's weird.. I would have put my money on "torrent" :?

Cthippo 21st December 2006, 12:53

interesting. All but 2 of the "what is" are drugs. Obviously all those ads for prescription drugs where they don't even tell you what it's supposed to treat are causing confusion.

I wonder what "how t levitate" comes up with

DeX 21st December 2006, 13:07

I'm pretty sure Google's results are tweaked. They don't include any adult search terms. I'm suprised that bebo made it to the top though. I thought myspace was far more popular. I'm also suprised you tube is not up there. Still these are search results. Most people will probably already have the most popular sites bookmarked.

AcidJiles 21st December 2006, 15:14

Never heard of bebo until I read this article. shows how popular that is in the UK :)

fini 21st December 2006, 16:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeX
I'm suprised that bebo made it to the top though. I thought myspace was far more popular.

I think myspace is more popular - people who use bebo are just 'less intellectually endowed'.

fini

Rd52 21st December 2006, 17:00

i hate rebelde its annoying as hell, some fine girls in there though ;)

c.u.later 21st December 2006, 17:01

thanks for that sweeping generalisation, fini. You mean that because I use bebo, that makes me 'less intellectually endowed'?

It's probably the most searched for because myspace is the most popular, so people already know about it, but not many (comparatively) know about bebo, possibly?

anyway, it's as valid a site as any other to keep in touch with your mates, why not use it?

c.u.later

DeX 21st December 2006, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by fini
I think myspace is more popular - people who use bebo are just 'less intellectually endowed'.

fini

That's being a bit kind to the majority of myspace users don't you think?

Neogumbercules 21st December 2006, 17:15

I can't understand why people would google search showtimes for movies like Borat instead of just going to the website of the theater they go to and looking for the showtime there. Are people that helpless?

DeX 21st December 2006, 17:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neogumbercules
I can't understand why people would google search showtimes for movies like Borat instead of just going to the website of the theater they go to and looking for the showtime there. Are people that helpless?

We have a choice of cinemas so Google's showtimes feature comes in handy for looking up the most convenient times.

mrplow 21st December 2006, 18:08

Quote:

Rebelde, a Mexican television series where a group of school children form a band, surprisingly makes it onto the list - it hasn't been aired in the UK yet though I for one can't wait.

Err... it sounds like S Club but in spanish...

LVMike 21st December 2006, 18:29

where is the sex?

i would like to know wat the most searched pictures were...

Nezodon 21st December 2006, 19:00

Ive never even heard of Bebo to be honest and as many people have pointed out the lack of sexual and porn related searches seem to make this suspect.

speedfreek 21st December 2006, 22:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nezodon
Ive never even heard of Bebo to be honest and as many people have pointed out the lack of sexual and porn related searches seem to make this suspect.

I dont believe it either, sex was #1 on yahoo for how many years in a row?

bloodcar 21st December 2006, 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edhi
More proof that people are stupid ...

"Hey, I wanna go on myspace, what's the address?"
"Um ... it's called myspace. So why not try myspace.com? Ya know, JUST A THOUGHT!"
"Oooh dunno, better google for it."

I go to every website I visit from a public computer via Google. Gmail, bit-tech, kotaku, digg, engadget, fark, and other websites that I know the URL of still get Google'd by me. When most people don't check the actual history and just browse what sites others have entered in the address bar, it's a good way to hide your tracks.

Ramble 21st December 2006, 23:55

I'm suprised none of you had heard of bebo.
I think it's possibly worse than MySpace.

cpemma 22nd December 2006, 00:40

Quote:

8. autism

Suggests to me it's because it's in the top 3 excuses for poor forum English, behind "I'm foreign" but just in front of "I've not been to sleep for 47 hours".

Searchers are looking for evidence to call bullsh.

Cthippo 22nd December 2006, 00:46

Autism is getting to be a big deal over here, and I think this is probably a good thing. It's been widely unrecognized and under-diagnosed for years, especially the high-functioning disorders.

None of the however would tend to affect someone's spelling. They're just lazy (like me :D )

Stwongbad 22nd December 2006, 23:47

where is matt XDDDD!!!

Cabe 23rd December 2006, 00:35

fkin bebo!

for those that havnt come accross this monstrosity is like myspace and you tube had an illigitamate love child.

They dont have any bandwidth issues because they hotlink EVERYTHING.

So much so the webserver I use pushed nearly 2TB in one month because I foolishly hosted the nizlopi JCB flash video at a higher res from the main website (for my own a firends use) oh how I learnt the benefits of the robots.txt file then.

http://cabe.multiplay.co.uk/images/wk-jcb-graph.jpg
http://cabe.multiplay.co.uk/images/wk-jcb-month.jpg

I replaced the original flash anim for a placeholder text (12k vs about 2 meg) and they were still whining nearly a year later "OMG PUT ITS BACK UP YOU FAGFZ" etc, and im not joking that was the level of lose.