Google has released its 2007 zeitgeist, a listing of the most popular terms that users have searched for on the web, writes John Collins.
Badoo, Webkinz, Hi5, Club Penguin. These terms may not normally appear in a national newspaper without some context but they were among the top 10 fastest-growing search terms on Google this year.
Google has released its 2007 zeitgeist, a listing of the most popular terms that users have searched for on the web's leading search engine. It shows that Apple's iPhone has been a marketing success even if sales have yet to explode. IPhone was the fastest rising search for both US and international users of Google.
The zeitgeist is based on the aggregation of billions of search queries people conducted on Google. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Badoo, Hi5, MySpace and Club Penguin continued to grow strongly this year.
Not surprisingly, US voters have now started to turn to the web for information about next year's presidential election.
Google's data spells bad news for Democratic Party US presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Ron Paul, the unconventional Republican candidate, dominates presidential web searches. The 72-year-old Texas congressman saw a massive spike in interest on the day his supporters raised $4 million in a 24-hour period.
Republican Fred Thompson is the second most searched-for candidate, with Ms Clinton third, Mr Obama fourth and Rudy Giuliani 10th.
US web users are not preoccupied with serious issues, however. The most popular term on Google News, which monitors thousands of global news outlets, was talent contest American Idol.
Google helpfully provides a graph called Young Hollywood which shows Britney Spears was consistently more popular than Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan, with particular spikes of interest when the singer shaved off her hair and appeared at the MTV music awards.
Heroes was the television show that most interested Google's US customers, with Transformersthe leading film.
The most popular diet plan in 2007 was Weight Watchers, followed by Jenny Craig, while the once ubiquitous Atkins Diet only clocked in at number five.