As We Welcome 2010, A Look Back At 2009

above: 2009's popular topics; Michael Jackson, Twitter, Health Care Bill, Iraq war, Tiger Woods, Zhu Zhu Hamsters, Green movement, Twilight's New Moon, Lady Gaga and Facebook.



Happy New Year to my wonderful readers. It's each and every one of you that make the labor of daily blogging worth it. I can't thank you enough for your continued support, encouragement, kind letters and comments.

Although If It's Hip, It's Here received less national press than in 2008, the blog finally broke into Alexa's top 100,000 and readership has almost doubled.

2009 was a very unusual year with lots of political, technological and cultural milestones and firsts, as well as tragic losses and economic struggles. It was the year we lost Michael Jackson and found Twitter. Swine flu spread as did the popularity of Lady Gaga. Facebook reached an all time high and myspace faded fast. And Tiger Woods fell from grace while we enter the Year of the Tiger.

According to Google Zeitgeist, the following were the most popular search topics of 2009 both globally and in the US.

Most popular Google searches worldwide, by category, of 2009:

Fastest Rising (Global)
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

Fastest Rising in Entertainment (Global)
1. michael jackson
2. transformers
3. eminem
4. naruto shippuden
5. beyonce
6. peliculas id
7. paranormal activity
8. anime online
9. natasha richardson
10. poker face lyrics

Fastest Rising in Food & Drink (Global)
1. acai berry
2. picnic
3. クックパッド
4. tesco direct
5. senseo
6. peanut butter recall
7. nespresso commande
8. habibs delivery
9. mocktail
10. masterchef australia

Fastest Falling (Global)
1. beijing 2008
2. euro 2008
3. heath ledger
4. barack obama
5. amy winehouse
6. kraloyun
7. dailymotion
8. bebo
9. wii
10. emule

Fastest Rising in Sports (Global)
1. real madrid
2. us open
3. ufc
4. sahadan
5. livescore
6. pacquiao vs cotto
7. wbc 速報
8. pga tour leaderboard
9. confederations cup
10. l'equipe football


Popular Queries By Quarter
The graphs below capture the fastest rising query for each quarter of 2009 (United States only), visualized over the entire year. To find the fastest rising query for each quarter, Google looked at the most popular searches conducted every three months and ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to the previous quarter. Note how some queries maintain a moderate level of search volume over an extended period of time, whereas others peak sharply and suddenly.

Fastest Rising:



Michael Jackson:

Disasters:

Late-Night TV Shows:

Celebrity Scandals:

Games:

Athletes:


And these were the most popular Google searches, by category, in the United States in 2009:

Google.com - Fastest Rising
1. twitter
2. michael jackson
3. facebook
4. hulu
5. hi5
6. glee
7. paranormal activity
8. natasha richardson
9. farrah fawcett
10. lady gaga

Google News - Fastest Rising
1. swine flu
2. susan boyle
3. jon and kate
4. adam lambert
5. rihanna (chris brown)
6. new moon
7. inauguration
8. michael jackson
9. nadya suleman
10. missing link found

Google Maps - Fastest Rising
1. mount everest
2. laguna seca
3. in-n-out
4. grand canyon
5. eiffel tower
6. white house
7. great wolf lodge
8. wild animal safari
9. voodoo doughnuts
10. path station

Google.com - Fastest Falling
1. john mccain
2. olympics
3. heath ledger
4. barack obama
5. sarah palin
6. circuit city
7. ron paul
8. iron man
9. spore
10. wii fit

Google Image Search - Fastest Rising
1. lady gaga
2. new moon
3. michael jackson
4. megan fox
5. selena gomez
6. rihanna
7. taylor swift
8. bella swan
9. alice cullen
10. jacob black

Google Mobile Search - Fastest Rising
1. twitter
2. michael jackson
3. facebook
4. imdb
5. cta bus tracker
6. bebo
7. nba scores
8. univision.com
9. steve mcnair
10. espn.com

The methodology used to determine the above:
To compile the 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist, Google studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search in 2009. They use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. They also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect "the spirit of the times." All of the search queries they studied are anonymous—no personal information was used.

Except where noted, all of these search terms are most popular for 2009—ranked in order of the queries with the largest volume of searches this year. In some cases, they list the "fastest rising" queries, which means they found the most popular searches conducted in 2009 and then ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2008. Conversely, "fastest falling" queries were very popular in 2008 but flattened in popularity in 2009.

Polls Show Consumers' Expected Shopping Habits This Christmas

New York — Despite the early sales push by major retailers, a Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll shows that consumers plan to start shopping later for the holidays this year. Only 22 percent expect to get their holiday shopping done right after Thanksgiving this year, compared to 30 percent in 2006.



Another 45 percent said they expect to finish shopping for the holidays by the second week of December, while 20 percent don't expect to complete their purchases until Christmas Eve.
A full 6 percent don't expect to finish their shopping until after the season is over.



Clothing tops the list of gifts that consumers plan to buy, at 71 percent, followed by gift cards at 62 percent and electronics at 53 percent. But while clothing is the most-purchased gift, it isn’t the most wanted. The poll found that consumers would most like to receive electronics gifts, at 19 percent, followed by gift cards at 12 percent.

Men wanted electronics the most, at 25 percent, while women want gift cards (15 percent) and electronics (13 percent). Last year Consumer Reports found that clothing was the gift which most often disappointed, at 38 percent.

Some 23 percent of respondents anticipate they will spend less than last year, and 65 percent plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online.

Men (23 percent) are more likely than women (13 percent) to do more of their holiday shopping online. The 22nd Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends, by Deloitte, got slightly different results, finding that gift spending will hold steady and the number of gifts consumers plan to give is up.

Consumers plan to buy an average of 23 gifts, up from 22 last year and the highest over the last six years. Women plan to buy even more, with an average of 26 gifts. Consumers aged 61–74 plan to spend 27 percent more than the average.



However, the survey also showed that 41 percent expect to reduce their spending this holiday season, just not on gifts.

Areas where spending is likely to be down include home improvements, socializing/entertaining, charitable donations, home/holiday furnishings and non-gift clothing.

Department stores, both traditional and discount, continue to be the top shopping destination. Gift cards are expected to be the top gift purchase for the fourth straight year, with 69 percent of consumers surveyed planning to buy them, compared with 66 percent last year. Shoppers are planning to buy an average of 5.5 cards, compared with 4.6 cards last year. Consumers are also spending more per card: $36.25 on average, compared with $30.22 last year.



Some 39 percent of consumers would rather get a gift card than merchandise, an increase over last year's 35 percent. And only 19 percent say they don't like to give gift cards because they're too impersonal, down from 22 percent last year. While 46 percent intend to buy them for immediate family; however, only 14 percent plan to buy gift cards for spouses or significant others.

More than half of consumers surveyed (54 percent) say a product's country of origin is important to them when making a purchase decision, with those over age 44 being most concerned; 35 percent said non-food products importer from other countries are not safe. Even more (58 percent) say recent news stories about product recalls will influence some of their purchase decisions.