Social networking, podcasting and Paris Hilton top Google's 2006 rankings

Angus Kidman
Wednesday, 20 December 2006 00:18

Your IT - Home IT

Social networking sites might be huge, but people still can't easily find them, according to Google's end-of-year summary of the most popular search terms.

While it generally scores less publicity, Bebo outstripped its social networking rival MySpace to take the top ranking in Google's 2006 Zeitgeist list. MySpace came in at number two, followed by the World Cup, video-sharing site Metacafe and online music player radio.blog.

Wiki technology proved popular, with Wikipedia ranking at number six, the term 'wiki' itself at number nine, and 'how to wiki' at number two in the list of 'how to' searches. Podcasting was also a recurring theme, ranking at number four in the list of Google News searches and placing second in the how-to rankings.

When it came to news stories, celebrity outstripped any other events. Socialite/singer/Internet porn star Paris Hilton topped the list of Google News searches (it may not be a coincidence that the most popular search using the 'define' keyword was 'promiscuous'), followed by Orlando Bloom.

While Steve Irwin topped Yahoo! Australia's end-of-year search list, he only ranked ninth in Google's ranking of the most popular searches featuring the word 'obituary'. That list was topped by TV producer Aaron Spelling.