A Year in UAE Search: Google's Top Searches of 2009 Show Technology Terms Top the List

• Who was the most-searched celebrity of 2009?
• Which new technology topped the charts?
• Were people searching Google for information about the economic crisis or the outcome of their favorite reality show?
  

Three days ago, Google announced its annual Zeitgeist, a look at 2009 through the collective eyes of the world on the web. The 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist offers a unique perspective on the year's major events and hottest trends based on global searches, as well as searches conducted in UAE.

2009 has been an interesting year for the UAE and people are looking to Google for access to information. Here are some of the fastest rising results this year in the UAE.

UAE Fastest Rising Queries

1. Tribal wars game
2. Gitex 2009
3. netLog
4. FlyDubai
5. blackberry
6. Ramadan 2009
7. Twitter
8. Star academy 6
9. Etihad airways booking
10. Kingfisher airlines booking
    

UAE Fastest Rising News Search

1. Nadya-Suleman
2. Slumdog-millionaire
3. Fattah Al Islam
4. Eritrea
5. Afghanistan
6. India elections 2009
7. Tamil Nadu election
8. Swine Flu
9. VAT Fraud
10. Oscar Winners 2009
    

UAE Fastest Rising - What Is....

1. What is Twitter
2. What is Facebook
3. What is love
4. What is spam
5. What is recession
6. What is life
7. What is GDP
8. What is 3G
9. What is autism
10. What is ISO
    

These are just a sample of a few of the lists generated for the UAE - to find out more about the top restaurants serached for and most popular universities take a look at the global site: google.com/zeitgeist2009

In addition to telling us what people are curious about in UAE, Google Zeitgeist tools also offer insight into which topics were of interest across the globe. Top search terms from over fifty countries appear on our Google Zeitgeist webpage, google.com/zeitgeist2009 -- from political candidates in South Africa, to news searches in the United Arab Emirates, to electronic brand searches in Hong Kong.

This year's global fastest rising searches show interest across pop culture (with the King of Pop at the helm, followed by searches for movie New Moon and singer Lady Gaga), social networking sites and new technologies such as Windows 7 and Torpedo Gratis.

Global Fastest Rising Queries

1. Michael Jackson
2. Facebook
3. Tuenti
4. Twitter
5. Sanalika
6. New moon
7. Lady Gaga
8. Windows 7
9. Dantri.com.vn
10. Torpedo Gratis
    

Zeitgeist Explained

Google reveals the internet "Zeitgeist" (German for "the spirit of the times") through an exploration of the billions of search queries we receive each year. In addition to the Year-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of 2009, we also have several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends. Google Zeitgeist tools can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time. These tools are available year-round for you to play with, explore, and learn from: www.google.com/zeitgeist