Google Releases its Zeitgeist for 2008 (Part II)

Sarah had a great post about this yesterday (you might want to read hers first), but since I already had this post saved, and since it's pretty different from hers, I'm posting it as part two. Enjoy:

Google's Zeitgeist is really neat. It basically summarizes search trends for the past year.

From the Google Zeitgeist home page:

As the year comes to a close, it's time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times. We've compiled some of the highlights from Google searches around the globe and hope you enjoy looking back as much as we do.

It's always neat to see surprises. For example:

Top Personal Electronics (Canada)

1. palm treo
2. blackberry
3. sync
4. hp ipaq
5. slingbox
6. t-mobile sidekick
7. htc touch
8. iphone
9. ipod
10. tomtom

How is the iPhone at number eight!? Why do Canadians love the Palm Treo so much? I don't get it. I don't get it at all.

Here's another interesting one, this time political:

Top Political Parties (Canada)

1. green party
2. liberal party
3. conservative party
4. ndp
5. bloc quebecois

Considering the percentage of the vote that the Green Party actually received, it's interesting to see them so high up. It's a balance between how much those interested in the Green Party use the web (versus other parties), and how much people in general feel the web is the best place to learn about the Green Party (considering it gets less television air time than others).

And finally, I'll close with a list who's number 1 might just bring a smile to your face:

What is...

1. what is love
2. what is life
3. what is java
4. what is sap
5. what is rss
6. what is scientology
7. what is autism
8. what is lupus
9. what is 3g
10. what is art