This post is something interesting to Singapore. What have Singaporeans been searching on Google for the year of 2009? Information after the break. 
A Year in Search:
Google Releases Top Searched Terms of 2009 in Singapore
- Searches for ‘ion orchard’ have topped the list of hottest shopping malls and is now nearly as popular as ‘takashimaya’ after just 4 months. Will the ‘new kid on the block’ beat the ‘grand old dame’ on Orchard?
- If you thought Singapore F1 2009 was a hot topic, guess what beat it by a mile? Singapore’s very own National Day Parade 2009!
- Buffets aplenty! We are truly a foodie nation, evidently seen in this year’s list of top food hot spots where Sakura and Kuishinbo buffets seized the first two places.
- Condominiums will never go out of style – the local public have been busy searching for new mass-market homes all year round, with the property market revival starting with Caspian and Alexis.’
Singapore, 8 December 2009 – Today, Google announced its annual Zeitgeist for Singapore – a look at 2009 through the collective eyes of the local public on the web. The 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year’s major events and hottest trends based on searches conducted on Google.com.sg.
Despite the recession in the first 6 months of the year, Singaporeans in 2009 made full use of their leisure time by using Google to search for new shopping malls, mass-market condo launches, sporting events and places to eat. Looking at the fastest-rising search terms, you can see that people in Singapore were interested in spending time online (facebook, twitter, dragonica), and keen on the latest developments of music sensations (susan boyle, michael jackson, lady gaga), in addition to their perennial fixations on health (swine flu), home (property guru) and travel (tiger airways bookings).
It was also no surprise that local celebrities like Jamie Yeo and Joshua Ang ruled the blogosphere, while new shopping malls like Ion Orchard and Tampines 1 are changing the local public’s definition of ‘mega’. Sports were of great interest as well, represented by a strong youth movement with the Asian Youth Games and Youth Olympic Games, the F1 night race making its second year outing last September, as well as marathons like the Real Run and Shape Run getting their share of interested participants. Mass market properties were also high in demand, starting with Caspian and Alexis condos after Chinese New Year, even as Singapore crawls out of a recession. Take a look below to get a sense of the Zeitgeist, or spirit of the times, in Singapore in 2009!
Uniquely Singapore!
(Disclaimer: All lists are fastest-rising (or hottest) search terms except for the most popular list. Also, all duplicates, as well as the country name “Singapore” have been removed from the list)
Most popular searches of 2009
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Fastest rising searches of 2009
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Shopaholics anonymous
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Sporting frenzy
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Celeb blogger mania
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Buzzworthy 2009 events in Singapore
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Super-hot condominiums
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Sizzling chomp spots
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Point your browser to http://www.google.com/zeitgeist2009 to read about the year’s top gaining and declining search terms as well as the most popular entertainment, sport, political, economic and local topics as determined by Google users in 35 countries including Singapore.
The Great Singapore Sale(s)
The local public tightened their belts throughout the year as they focused on purchasing essentials and searching for the best possible deals online, from household items and properties to travel and electronics. For example, the word ‘sale’ was searched a whopping 34% more in 2009 as compared to 2008.
A web search volume graph generated by Google Insights for Search shows that local searches for the word ‘sale’ increased in 2009 by 34%, as compared to 2008.
Battle Royale on Orchard Road?
Total searches for Takashimaya topped Ion Orchard by 43% for the year, obviously since Ion Orchard has only been open since late-July. However, the hugely anticipated opening of the super-glitzy mall generated around a 233% spike in search traffic making it #1 on our fastest-rising shopping mall list in 2009. Amazingly, after just four months, search volumes for Ion Orchard are neck-in-neck with Takashimaya. Will the ‘new kid on the block’ de-throne the ‘grand old dame’ of Orchard Road? Check the results for yourself on Google Insights for Search after the Christmas shopping season.
A web search volume graph generated by Google Insights for Search shows that local searches for ‘takashimaya’ surpassed those for ‘ion orchard’ by 43% in 2009.
To check out what else Singaporeans are searching for and to compare search volumes across time frames or regions, visit Google Insights for Search at www.google.com.sg/insights/search.
Zeitgeist Explained
Google reveals the internet “Zeitgeist” (German for “the spirit of the times”) through an exploration of the millions of search queries we receive every day. In addition to the Year-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of 2009, we 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 we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time. These tools are available year-round for you to play with, explore, and learn from www.google.com/zeitgeist.
About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.sg.
Google and Google Insights for Search are registered trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.