Free classifieds site OLX, deceased pop diva Whitney Houston and Hurricane Sandy were the top three search trends in South Africa for 2012 according to the Google Zeitgeist.
OLX, the online buying and selling site has become a popular means to get rid of unwanted items, while Whitney Houston’s untimely death in February prompted a surge in traffic. Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast of the US, the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic in October.
Whitney also took the top spot for overall trending people in South Africa, followed closely by international athletics star Caster Semenya and social celebrity Khanyi Mbau.
The South Korean Gangnam dance craze was fourth in overall search trends and the 2012 Olympics completed the top five.
South Africans kept it local, with searches for short-lived airline Velvet Sky in sixth place. Caster Semenya won a different kind of medal by coming in as the fastest trending sportsperson of the year, followed closely by swimming hero, Chad le Clos.
In technology trends, the iPad 3 captured South Africa’s imagination, coming in tenth overall and grabbing first place on the top gadgets list.
To see more information about Google Zeitgeist across the globe, use interactive data visualisations and to watch the annual video, visit googlezeitgeist.com or www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012
