Google Zeitgeist offered up a glimpse into the German psyche – or should that by Psy-che – this week by publishing a list of the fastest-growing Web search terms of 2012. Given that it become an overnight craze around the world, perhaps it’s no surprise that South Korean pop sensation Psy’s smash hit Gangnam Style topped the list of song searches.
As for technology, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPad 3 also made it into the overall top ten, perhaps a sign that the battle between Android and iOS is finely balanced. The S3 came in fifth overall, two places ahead of Apple’s latest tablet.
The eagerly-awaited iPhone 5 was, perhaps surprisingly, only fifth in the fastest-growing device search terms, coming in behind the iPad mini and the Nokia Lumia 920. But it was the highest tech term in the picture search list coming in at number four – behind ‘Wallpaper,’ ‘Liebe‘ (love) and, ahem, ‘Megan Fox.’
Elsewhere, Germany’s newly-crowned triple Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel battled his way into third in the sporting list, behind Barcelona phenom Lionel Messi and archery-themed mime artist Usain Bolt. Top of the overall list of fastest-growing search terms was ‘EM 2012’, referring to the football European Championships held in Poland and the Ukraine this past summer. That came in ahead of Dirk Bach, a German comedian who died in October, and ‘Olympia 2012’, referring to the London Olympics.
The results provide an interesting glimpse into the German mind. But Germany made up only a part of the 1.2 trillion searches in 146 languages that Google logged. And the fastest-growing search term globally? Whitney Houston, who died suddenly in February.