Most popular Google searches of 2008

According to Google, the study, which involves billions of search queries, offers insight into the spirit of our age.

Globally, the search terms which grew in popularity the most, as compared to 2007, were "Sarah Palin," "Beijing 2008" and "Facebook login." Four out of the top 10 terms involved social networks, including Poland's Nasza-klasa.pl, which was the seventh fastest-rising query in 2008. It came after "Obama" and ahead of "Wer Kennt Wen," a German social networking site.

The remaining top 10 fastest-rising search terms included "tuenti" (a Spanish networking site), "Heath Ledger," "Euro 2008" and "Jonas brothers."

Among Polish Google-users, "Nasza Klasa" was the fastest-rising query, followed by "Pudelek" (a gossip site) and "Wrzuta" (a Polish version of YouTube). Coming in fifth was "Jozin z Bazin," a comedic Czech song about a swamp monster. The song experienced a resurgence in popularity in early 2008, a phenomenon which drew international attention and revived the song-writer's career.

The top-five most popular queries (not taking y/y growth into account) were "Nasza Klasa," "gry" (games), "Allegro" (a Polish auction site), "YouTube," and "Onet" (a popular multimedia portal).

It should be noted, however, that the Year-End Zeitgeist isn't a straightforward popularity ranking. Google's methodology isn't entirely clear, but queries for "adult" words are excluded, for example.

"Searches for adult keywords are pretty constant, and although unquestionably popular, we don't think they define the Zeitgeist for any one year," said Google's Marta Jóźwiak.

E Blake Berry