MANILA – December 18, 2013 – Hollywood actor Paul Walker, who was killed in a car crash on November 30, led 2013’s top searches by Filipinos on Google.com.ph.
Google Philippines unveiled its annual year-end Zeitgeist, a collection of top search queries, at a press conference on December 17.
"The top searches for the Philippines is very reflective of what the Filipinos were thinking of or were interested in throughout 2013," Gail Tan, Google Philippines country communications manager, told adobo.
"I think the fact that Paul Walker was number one is very reflective of how interested we are with Hollywood and also celebrities, and I think it’s also the fact that Paul Walker did so much for Typhoon Haiyan. All these things put together, it just hit the Filipinos hard when we learned that he died so we all went online and searched for news about that," she continued.
Tan added that other top searches included the 2013 elections, the State of the Nation Address, and the pork barrel issue. "We Filipinos are really very concerned about what’s happening in our country. We have the pork barrel also on the list. On the other side, we have Miss Universe and candidates for these beauty pageants so overall it’s very reflective of who the Filipinos really are," Tan said.
The top 10 overall local searches in the Philippines were:
1. Paul Walker
2. Samsung Galaxy S4
3. Movies 2013
4. Onehitcf
5. Camera 360
6. PAL Express
7. Neri Naig
8. Miss Universe 2013
9. EB Baby Yosh
10. iPhone 5s
Walker, who attended a charity event for Typhoon Yolanda victims before the tragic car crash, also topped the local lists for most searched news, newsmaker, and people. The deaths of Glee actor Cory Monteith and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela were also prominent in the lists.
Published since 2001, Zeitgeist is a tool in discovering the pulse of the people through searches made on Google. "If we look at all the search terms in the year, we can get the spirit of the times," Tan said.
This year’s news list revealed the Filipinos’ interest in competitions such as Miss Universe, FIBA Asia, UAAP Season 76, and Wimbledon. When it comes to food, juice recipes were the most searched recipes, followed by desserts and meat. International House of Pancakes (IHOP), which opened the first branch in the Philippines early this year, was the most searched restaurant, followed by Slappy Cakes and Vikings SM North.
The lists are available on the Google Zeitgeist webpage.
