Madiba tops net searches

Nelson Mandela and Oscar Pistorius top the list of the year's most popular Google search terms in South Africa.

Google South Africa released its 12th "year-end zeitgeist" yesterday, with data on the top trending and most-searched terms in the country.

Julie Taylor, head of communications at Google SA, said the lists covered "what gadgets and gizmos were trending, what styles were hot, which athletes inspired us".

"Zeitgeist showcases what captured the world's attention this year through the lens of Google Search."

Google creates the lists through its Google Trends feature, which measures the volume of searches around terms and topics.

"Trending searches" measures the terms that had the highest amount of web traffic at a specific time throughout the year, while "most-searched" ranks terms by volume of searches.

Mandela, who died on December 5, topped all of the overall lists, followed by Pistorius, accused of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp .

Vuyo Mbuli, the SABC radio and television presenter who died in June of a pulmonary embolism, was also high on all of the lists.

His widow, Savita, came in second on the list of South African women who "trended".

Mamphela Ramphele was the politician who trended highest on Google SA, followed by the DA' s Mmusi Maimane and Lindiwe Mazibuko.

But the political figures who boasted the most searches overall were President Jacob Zuma, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema and former president Thabo Mbeki.

In terms of tragedy, the ones that most captured internet users' interest were the death of Mandela, the Boston Marathon bombing, the death and funeral of Reeva Steenkamp and the car crash that claimed the life of The Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker.

Android's recent BBM addition was at the top of technology-related searches, and dance act Swedish House Mafia topped the trending music search list.

The launching of Malema's EFF was the most widely searched political event, followed by the Red October marches and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's budget speech.

The term "twerk" topped the "how to" and "what is" lists. - BDlive