The internet keeps track of a lot of things and Google has recently compiled the most asked questions for 2015 on their search engine.
The top questions for Google in the United States over the year included: “How can I help the refugees?” “Why can’t women be army rangers?” “What does the confederate flag stand for?” “How can we overcome prejudice?” “Why was there a Cuban embargo?” “What color is the dress?” “How can the world find peace?” “Are you born transgender?” “How can we rebuild Nepal?”
Additionally the top 10 trending searches for 2015 in the United States were Lamar Odom, Jurassic World, American Sniper, Caitlyn Jenner, Ronda Rousey, Paris, Agario, Chris Kyle, Fallout 4, and Straight Outta Compton.
As I read through these it made me wonder what the top searches for Canadians were, this required a little bit more Google searching than the United States topics, but it was still rather easy to find. The United States’ focus appears to be heavily influenced by sports, movies, and celebrities; this is what made me wonder about Canada’s activities. Were we searching similar things or did we have something else on our minds?
According to Google Trends Canadians were focused on sports, but our federal election was also a big one. In Canada the top searches of 2015 were Blue Jays, Justin Trudeau, Federal Election, Pan Am Games, Paris Shooting, Agario, Chris Hyndman, Charlie Hebdo, and Lamar Odom.
Questions at the top of our list included “What is ISIS?” “What is Je Suis Charlie?” “What is Bill C-51” “What is Fentanyl?” “How to vote?” “How to use Snapchat?” “How to delete U2 album?” “How to help Syrian refugees?”
So what were other countries looking at around the world?
Australia’s top ten searches included Netflix, Rugby World Cup, Lamar Odom, Ronda Rousey, Asian Cup, Jarryd Hayne, Jurassic World, Paris, Cricket World Cup, and Agario.
Top Australian questions: “What is Netflix?” “What is love?” “What is the meaning of life?” “How do you tie a tie?” “How do you make pancakes?” “How do you screenshot on Mac?” “How do you make a paper plane?”
United Kingdom’s were Cilla Black, Lady Colin Campbell, Rugby World Cup, Jeremy Clarkson, Paris, iPhone6s, Grand National 2015, Jurassic World, Election Results.
Their top questions included “How to lose belly fat?” “How to get rid of brain freeze?” “How to lose weight quickly?” “How to register to vote?” “What is a penny black stamp?” “What is an exit poll?” “What is Leavers Lace?” “What is 0 divided by 0?”
The last question there may have been a popular one because of Siri’s response on the iPhone to it: “Imagine that you have 0 cookies and you split them evenly among 0 friends. How many cookies does each person get? See, it doesn’t make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies. And you are sad that you have no friends.”
Globally Lamar Odom was the most searched, while Charlie Hebdo, Agario, Jurassic World, Paris, Furious 7, Fallout 4, Ronda Rousey, and Caitlyn Jenner joined him in the top 10.
Google didn’t have the compiled trending questions of the year to include, but I found it interesting how the top Google trends do show a glimpse into the world from the year.
