Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 03 December 2008 06:53
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
When the 2008 Google Zeitgeist report of top search terms is published next week, the top of the list will be US President-elect Barack Obama. The result is in stark contrast to that of Yahoo! which has Britney Spears in the top spot ahead of Obama.
Google has released a preview of its 2008 Zeitgeist report showing the top search terms as:
1 obama
2 facebook
3 att
4 iphone
5 youtube
6 fox news
7 palin
8 beijing 2008
9 david cook
10 surf the channel
That's very different to the
Yahoo! list we reported yesterday, which showed Britney Spears in top place and Barack Obama at number three, separated by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). So what's going on?
Most significantly, the two companies measure different things. Yahoo!'s list is based on "a number of factors, including absolute volume and growth versus previous periods, to see which themes and trends bubble to the surface."
Google, by comparison, shows the fastest rising search terms.
So whereas Obama has rocketed to prominence over the last year or two, Spears' fame is well established. She therefore benefits from the way Yahoo! factors in absolute volume as well as growth.
I don't think that's the only reason - see page 2.
