A Year in Singapore Search: Google’s Top Searches of 2013

Yesterday, Google announced its annual Year End Zeitgeist, a look at 2013 through the collective eyes of the world on the web, offering a unique perspective on the year’s major events and hottest trends based on Google searches conducted in Singapore.

So what got Singaporeans buzzing online in 2013?

The Southeast Asian haze grabbed attention and headlines this year, as Singaporeans searched for information about the phenomenon by looking up the latest PSI readings, facts about haze particles, and preventative masks. Singaporeans also kept an eye on other local news and events, including Singapore’s bird flu readiness, the investigation into American engineer Shane Todd’s alleged suicide, and news of local actor, Huang Wenyong’s death from lymphoma. Another celebrity death to make waves in Singapore was that of movie star Paul Walker, who died suddenly in a car crash in November.

Basketball is here to stay among Singaporean sport fans with the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, and the Dallas Mavericks emerging on Singapore’s most searched sports teams for the first time. The nation continued to follow international football favourites as well, with Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur all making the list, along with local team LionsXII.

Ever gadget- and bargain-savvy, Singaporeans searched for key dates for events like the 2013 IT Show, COMEX and the Great Singapore Sale. The nation also indulged its love for food—especially its sweet tooth—with searches for traditional treats like Kueh Bangkit and Snow Skin Mooncake, and contemporary favourites like Rainbow Cake, Leche Flan and Nutella Blossom, spiking on the trending recipes list.

Short trips and weekend getaways remained popular as Legoland Malaysia, the first Legoland theme park in Asia, came in as the top travel destination for Singaporeans for the second year in a row, along with Hong Kong, Penang, and Bangkok, cities famed for good food and shopping. On the whole, however, holidaymakers preferred to relax under the sun with well-known beach destinations such as Bali and Langkawi snagging 5 out of the top 10 travel hotspots.

Google spokesperson Sana Rahman said: “Google’s year-end Zeitgeist is a cultural barometer showing us what quickened our national heartbeat and drove our curiosity in 2013.”

As someone is online 24-7, I couldn’t agree more. Online trends often mirrors what goes on in the real world and sometimes give clues and insights on human behaviours.

Trending

Searches 1.       PSI Singapore 2.       Harlem shake 3.       Little India riot 4.      Anonymous 5.       N95 mask 6.       Malaysia election 7.       Deepavali 2013 8.       Gwiyomi 9.       Boston 10.   Tampines accident	People 1.       Paul Walker 2.       Cory Monteith 3.       Huang Wenyong 4.       Nelson Mandela 5.       Gordon Ramsay 6.       Margaret Thatcher 7.       Lea Michele 8.       Jennifer Lawrence 9.       Rowan Atkinson 10.   Tom Hiddleston	Songs 1.       Wrecking Ball 2.       Gentlemen 3.       Blurred Lines 4.       Counting Stars 5.       Clarity 6.       Royals 7.       Get Lucky 8.       Thrift Shop 9.       Road 10.   Heart Attack	Movies 1.       The Conjuring 2.       Pacific Rim 3.       Despicable Me 2 4.       World War Z 5.       Man of Steel 6.       Iron Man 3 7.       The Great Gatsby 8.       Gravity 9.       Oblivion 10.   Warm Bodies
What is… 1.       PM 2.5 2.       Gwiyomi 3.       Twerking 4.       Obamacare 5.       Lymphoma 6.       OOTD 7.       Hail 8.      Mastectomy 9.       Gluten 10.   H7N9	How to… 1.       Rap 2.       Harmonize 3.       Cycle 4.       Twerk 5.       Paint 6.       Beatbox 7.       Factorise 8.       Crochet 9.       Deadlift 10.   Blog	Gadgets 1.       iPhone 5s 2.       Samsung Galaxy S4 3.       Samsung Note 3 4.       iPhone 5c 5.       iPad Air 6.       Nexus 5 7.       iPad Mini 2 8.       HTC One 9.       Sony Xperia X 10.   Xbox One	Recipes 1.       Shepherd’s Pie 2.       Kueh Bangkit 3.       Lasagne 4.       Snow Skin Mooncake 5.       Nutella Blossom 6.       Rainbow Cake 7.       Chicken Wings 8.       Beef Steak 9.       Leche Flan 10.   Cornflake Cookies

Most Searched

Travel Destinations 1.       Legoland Malaysia 2.       Bali 3.       Hong Kong 4.       Maldives 5.       Bangkok 6.       Taiwan 7.       Bintan 8.       Langkawi 9.       Krabi 10.   Penang	Local News 1.       Bird Flu 2.       Shane Todd 3.       Huang Wenyong 4.       Kovan 5.       Khaw Boon Wan 6.       Flood 7.       Singapore haze 8.       Singapore property 9.       Tey Tsun Hang 10.   Singapore riot	TV Shows 1.       Running Man 2.       Game of Thrones 3.       Breaking Bad 4.       Suits 5.       Naruto Shippuden 6.       The Big Bang Theory 7.       The Heirs 8.       The Voice of China 9.       The Walking Dead 10.   We Got Married	Korean Stars 1.       Kim Jong-kook 2.       Super Junior 3.       Girls’ Generation 4.       Hyuna 5.       Park Shin-hye 6.       Yoon Eun-hye 7.       Lee Min-jung 8.       Gary Kang 9.       Jo In-sung 10.   Jang Geun-suk
Events 1.       Singapore F1 2.       IT Show 3.       Australian Open 4.       COMEX 5.       PC Show 6.       Standard Chartered Marathon 7.       Wimbledon 8.       Sundown Marathon 9.       NATAS Fair 10.   Great Singapore Sale	Sports Teams 1.       Arsenal 2.       Manchester United 3.       Liverpool 4.       Chelsea 5.       LionsXII 6.       Tottenham Hotspur 7.       Houston Rockets 8.       L. A. Lakers 9.       Miami Heat 10.   Dallas Mavericks	Sportspersons 1.       Cristiano Ronaldo 2.       David Beckham 3.       Jeremy Lin 4.       Roger Federer 5.       Wayne Rooney 6.       Oscar Pistorius 7.       Rafael Nadal 8.       Jose Mourinho 9.       Thiago Alcantara 10.   Andy Murray	on Mobile 1.       PSI Singapore 2.       SGX 3.      Weather 4.       Arsenal 5.      Manchester United 6.      Liverpool 7.       iPhone 5s 8.      Restaurants 9.      Running Man 10.  Samsung Galaxy S4

To see more information about Google Zeitgeist across the globe, use interactive data visualizations and to watch Google’s annual video, visit google.com/zeitgeist.

What is Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist?

Google reveals the Internet “Zeitgeist” (German for “the spirit of the times”) through an exploration of the over one trillion search queries received each year. In addition to the Year-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of 2013, Google also have several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends. Google Zeitgeist tools can never be used to identify individual users because Google relies on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time. These tools are available year-round for us to play with, explore, and learn from at google.com/zeitgeist