Politics and Economics South Africa

Google Zeitgeist ~ Politics and Economics

March 2009

1 Zeitgeist 2008

Google Zeitgeist

Take a look inside the world of search

“Zeitgeist” means “the spirit of the times”, and Google reveals this spirit through the aggregation of millions of search queries we receive every day. People around the globe conduct searches on Google to find a wide variety of information – everything from top news stories to online shopping guides to local business details, and much more. We have several tools that offer insights into these global, regional, past and present search trends. These tools are available for you to play with, explore, and learn from. You can use them for everything from business research to trivia answers.

2 Political Parties

1.! ID The high numbers of searches for ID could be a reflection of South Africans searching for Identity Documents, 2.! DA Identifications (ID) and NOT just the political party…

3.! ANC

COPE has launched 4.! COPE an aggressive online strategy and has also raised the interest of 5.! IFP many South Africans, as we look for an alternative in leadership

3 Most Popular Politicians

1.! Julius Malema ANC Youth League leader is never short of controversy 2.! Helen Suzman or interest amongst South African readers 3.! Helen Zille

The activist's death captivated 4.! Trevor Manuel online readers, not only in SA, but worldwide as well 5.! Kgalema Motlanthe

6.! Jacob Zuma

7.! Nelson Mandela

4 Other political top searches

1.! Obama Friends of Democracy , Bushisms, 2.! Sarah Palin An inconvenient truth, the White House, Robben island and Tamils for Obama 3.! Mandela were some of the other top terms that were searched for online recently. 4.! Robert Mugabe

5.! George Bush

Cholera, politics, elections, 6.! McCain Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai – Zimbabwe is never short of 7.! Madam the speaker news or interest

8.! Ronald Reagan

9.! Tsvangirai

10.! Cecil John Rhodes

5 Top Voting Terms

1.! Voting Registration

2.! Voting Day

3.! Voting Stations Interesting to see that South Africans are researching ‘electronic’ voting 4.! IEC Voting systems, could that be because we feel we are more advanced than other countries? 5.! Electronic Voting System

6.! Voting Area

7.! Voting Statistics

6 Economic ~ Most popular SA banks

1.! Absa

2.! FNB

3.! Standard Bank

4.! Nedbank

5.! Investec

6.! Stanlib

7.! Reserve Bank

7 Economic General Terms

1.! Exchange rate 1.! South African Economy

2.! Insurance 2.! Global Economy 3.! Botswana Economy 3.! Inflation rate

4.! Savings Its worthwhile mentioning the cyclical interest in 5.! Dollar rate the exchange and insurance searches over weekdays when the online users are at their offices, with access to Internet 6.! Rand Rate

8 Top Quarterly Searches The exponential rise of Twitter worldwide and many new

1.! Joost The video tape scandal 12.!Twilight brands and individuals queuing up that shook South Africa to start engaging their customers 2.! Kaskus 13.!Facebook in dialogue and two way conversation 3.! Slumdog Millionaire 14.!Twitter reacting to customers questions and

4.! Lady Gaga 15.!John Travolta concerns in real time The war and international 5. Robert Pattinson 16.Marie Claire ! bands interest people ! 6.! Gaza on a similar scale 17.!Dirty Sexy Money

7.! Coke Fest 2009 18.!Photofunia

8.! Blackberry Storm 19.!www.heat.co.za

9.! Wikileaks 20.!fifa.com

10.!Windows 7 21.!Idols SA

11.!COPE We’re just as preoccupied 22.!Australian Open with new operating systems as we are with COPE

9 Fastest rises are the searches that have seen the biggest Mobile Searches growth over a specific period of time