Google New Zealand Blog: Kiwis rugby mad as Sonny Bill Williams overcomes Bieber Fever

Kiwis rugby mad as Sonny Bill Williams overcomes Bieber Fever

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

From the Rugby World Cup and chicken thigh recipes to the meaning of love and the meaning of planking, New Zealanders turned to Google this year to find out more information and keep their finger on the pulse.

Today we’re releasing our annual Zeitgeist lists: this year’s hottest search terms on google.co.nz. The lists offer a unique glimpse into the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends which captivated us throughout 2011.

With the Rugby World Cup making headlines this year, it’s little surprise that it was the fastest rising search query of the year, meaning it saw the largest spike in searches in 2011. Kiwis were also looking up information on the Japanese earthquake, the rumoured iPhone 5 as well as the curious and viral nek minute video on YouTube.

But the biggest upset of 2011 involved a local lad. Proving that bicep and ball skills trump Bieber fever, golden boy Sonny Bill Williams won out Justin Bieber to be the most popular searched images on Google New Zealand. The rugby player also came third in top news searches as Kiwis turned to Google to find out the latest.

Our appetite for a high calorie diet saw us look up the bunless 1939kj KFC double down burger, which claimed top prize as the most popular food or drink search. Red velvet cupcakes, pizza, macaroons and buttercream icing rounded out the top five.

Here are our top search terms in New Zealand for 2011 -- we’ll be posting our global search terms next week, and we’ll tweet and post on Google+ to let you know!

Fastest rising searches 1. rugby world cup 2. japan earthquake 3. iphone 5 4. Pippa middleton 5. Adele 6. nek minute 7. google plus 8. Amy winehouse 9. Steven tyler 10. Ken Ring	Top image searches 1. Sonny Bill Williams 2. Justin Bieber 3. Katy Perry 4. New Zealand 5. All Blacks 6. Selena Gomez 7. Megan Fox 8. Kim Kardashian 9. Nicki Minaj 10. Christchurch earthquake
Fastest rising people 1. Pippa Middleton 2. Adele 3. Amy Winehouse 4. Steven Tyler 5. Ken Ring 6. Kate Middleton 7. Scarlett Johansson 8. Kimbra 9. Sonny Bill Williams 10. Mark Zuckerberg	Top searches for “what is?” 1. what is love? 2. what is energy? 3. what is culture? 4. what is twitter? 5. what is planking? 6. what is 3g? 7. what is skype? 8. what is gluten? 9. what is matariki? 10. what is html?
Top newsmakers 1. Christchurch earthquake 2. Rugby World Cup 3. Japanese tsunami 4. All Blacks 5. iPhone 6. Sonny Bill Williams 7. Cricket 8. China 9. Warriors 10. Apple	Top food searches 1. double down burger 2. red velvet cupcakes 3. pizza 4. macaroon 5. buttercream icing 6. chocolate cupcakes 7. chocolate brownie 8. peanut butter cookies 9. chicken thigh recipes 10. potato bake
Top travel destinations 1. Hawaii 2. Las Vegas 3. New York 4. Hamilton Island 5. Rarotonga 6. Port Douglas 7. Great barrier reef 8. Maui 9. Byron Bay 10. Fiji	Top Kiwi in news search 1. Sonny Bill Williams 2. Richie Mccaw 3. David Tua 4. Hone Harawira 5. John Key 6. Ken Ring 7. Dan Carter 8. Jonah Lomu 9. Graham Henry 10. Robbie Deans

Posted by Johnny Luu, Public Affairs and Communications Manager, Google New Zealand