Every year in the month of December Google releases their Year in Review based on Search popularity. The purpose of this list is to provide people an opportunity to reflect on the people, places, and moments that caught people's attention throughout this past calendar year. The first review I suggest viewing is the Year in Review Video which is embedded below. This video would be a great video to show for a free writing activity, or as an introduction for a research project where students research the major events during their birth year or in another time in history.
When you examine the search history of Google you realize that is provides valuable information into what has happened in our world over the past year. Below are the top ten global trending searches of 2013:
- Nelson Mandela
- Paul Walker
- iPhone 5s
- Cory Monteith
- Harlem Shake
- Boston Marathon
- Royal Baby
- Samsung Galaxy s4
- PlayStation 4
- North Korea
For the year 2013 users can also examine the 3D Global Map that will allow users to discover popular searches for by day for cities around the world. This would make for an interesting examination of what is popular for different regions of the world and be a popular activity in Geography or Sociology classes. To examine previous years top searches and stories, visit the Google Zeitgeist Home Page for direct links to 2013 or the Trends Home Page for previous years back to 2001.
