Google just announced their top searches from 2017, and there’s only one thing I can really say about them. They’re kind of depressing. At the end of 2016, it seemed like most people were talking about how many people passed away that year. It was the year that people were taken from us. Which was also sad, but this feels different. Some of these things were preventable. And some things are horrific and should never have happened in the first place. What made the list? The top three searches were – Hurricane Irma, Matt Lauer, and Tom Petty. The Matt Lauer search is interesting and should be explored a bit more. Tom Petty passed away at a fairly young age, so I think people were reeling from that. Hurricane Irma was devastating, so I’m not surprised that it made the list.
Hurricane Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane of the season. Irma was the strongest hurricane observed in the Atlantic since Wilma in 2005, in terms of maximum sustained winds. Irma is unofficially the costliest Caribbean hurricane on record. Why would Irma make Google’s top searched list? In general, the weather seems to be a topic that everyone wants to stay on top of. To put this into perspective, Hurricane Harvey also made the list. I think people just want to know what’s happening. Or what has happened, so they are going to Google those events in order to stay prepared. Or safe.
As I mentioned, Matt Lauer made the list. I definitely find this one extremely interesting. You’re probably wondering why. Well, in my opinion, Lauer hasn’t been accused by as many women as someone like Harvey Weinstein. I’m not saying that one is better than the other. Both stories are awful. But that’s why I think this is interesting. Is it because we welcomed Matt Lauer into our homes as we watched The Today Show? I know I did. I haven’t watched the show in years, but it certainly was a part of my morning routine at one point. The news is honestly shocking. Not because I’m naïve. But because these people are “in” our lives on kind of a regular basis. We feel like we know them on some level, and we expect better from them.
The third most searched term was Tom Petty, who passed away earlier this year. After that, we have the Super Bowl and the Las Vegas Shooting. Remember when I said that some of these things were preventable? I’m referring to the Las Vegas shooting. I am not going to get into that whole debate in this post, and I will leave it at that. Of course, the Mayweather/McGregor fight made the list. That was definitely overblown, in order for them to make more money, but that’s show business, right?
Rounding out the list was the solar eclipse. The first image that comes to mind when I think of the eclipse, is Donald Trump staring into the sun. The eclipse itself was an incredible phenomenon that doesn’t happen in this part of the world all that often. I already mentioned Hurricane Harvey. I think the reason for Harvey to make the list was for the same reasons as Irma. People are either worried that it will affect them, or interested to know how devastating it was for others. Lastly, Aaron Hernandez and fidget spinners.
Google has some “other”, more specific searches. Harvey Weinstein did make one of their lists. He got the number three spot for the most searched person. The price of Bitcoin came in at number five on the “news” list. The top searched car in the United States was Ford. Which I think is incredibly interesting.As far as technology goes, most of this list won’t surprise you. The iPhone 8 was the most searched term, followed by the iPhone X, the Nintendo Switch, the Samsung Galaxy S8, and then the Razer Phone. That last one is a bit surprising to me though, but Google doesn’t lie. If you want to check out the list for yourself or explore one of these other categories, head over to Google Trends. You can get a lot of really neat information.