Looking closely now at the main zeitgeist page there is nothing I can see that specifies these lists to be representative of American Googlers.

Why is there no breakdown just for America but there are for a host of other countries? And why does the original news story here on the SG wire imply that the main zeitgeist lists are representative of Americans?

And the 2004 winners of the American Google Zeitgeist are... (drumroll, please)...

[Edited on Dec 29, 2004 by crispy]

Shal

Los Angeles, CA

October 2002

DEC 29, 2004 01:16 PM

crispy said:

Dizzy said:

crispy said:
I think it's odd that David Beckham was the most popular sports topic for US Googlers ... and cricket was number eight?

WTF?

Based on billions of searches conducted by Google users around the world

And the 2004 winners of the American Google Zeitgeist are... (drumroll, please)...

[Edited on Dec 29, 2004 by crispy]

Another news story I read said that was the US version. I took their word for it. I may have been negligent in doing so, but it made sense given the fact that the breakdown by countries didn't include the US.

I took out the references to American results until I can figure out what the heck Google did.

[Edited on Dec 29, 2004 by Shalome]

mat8drb

United Kingdom

October 2004

DEC 29, 2004 03:09 PM

crispy said:
I think it's odd that David Beckham was the most popular sports topic for US Googlers ... and cricket was number eight?

WTF?

.com is quicker to type than .co.uk. Trust me.

Good to see that Big Brother was the second most popular in the UK.

Edited to add: And good to see that justim timberlake was searched for more than his cousin, Justin. UK Results.

[Edited on Dec 29, 2004 by mat8drb]

MrSmead

Savannah, GA

February 2003

DEC 29, 2004 04:47 PM

dpk said:
I wonder why John Kerry lost:

Top Public Figures 2004
1. george w bush
2. janet jackson
3. john kerry
4. britney spears

Popular News Outlets 2004
1. cnn
2. washington post
3. bbc
4. fox news
5. new york times

BrookeLynne

SUICIDEGIRL

Maine, USA

DEC 29, 2004 04:57 PM

dpk said:

iamabondgirl said:
Why are people looking up Britney Spears? Isn't she so last year?

I think she got married again or something, to try and stay in the limelight. I dunno. She's beyond last year for me, maybe I would have thought she was 'hot' 10 years ago.

When you were ten years younger or when she was? because that would make her...13?

_Elichrusos

Australia

November 2004

DEC 31, 2004 02:40 AM

Food for thought:

When you looks for something related to George Bush, or the war on iraq, would you search for "George Bush"? Anyone who was using google to find proper information would be far more likely to make a specific query, which by its nature would fall of the zeitgeist radar.

Millions of pre-teen twenty year olds following mass culture blindly are, for the most part, already not thinking for themselves. Its a gross generalisation, but not altogether inaccurate. After all, if you don't think about things enough to wonder why Britney Spears is someone worth searching for, you're not likely to think enough about your search to limit it further than "Britney Spears boobs" or "Britney Spears two timing paris hilton with a barbed strapon".

Fortunately these figures are not as damning as they might first seem. Nevertheless...

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Portland, OR

OLD SKOOL

DEC 29, 2004 01:08 PM

NEWSWIRE

Philadelphia, PA

DEC 29, 2004 01:11 PM