The South African internet in 2013 was dominated by Nelson Mandela.
Google has released its annual Zeitgeist report from 2013 and the late former president is at the top of many lists.
Also featuring large on the SA landscape were Oscar Pistorius and Reeve Steenkamp; Julius Malema’s EFF; BBM for Android and twerking.
A press release from Google says that “zeitgeist” is a German word meaning “the spirit of the times.”
“Google often celebrates this spirit by revisiting the week's/month's/year's top searches around the world. From most searched travel destinations, to trending celebrities, to most searched athletes, to top tech gadgets, and everything in between, these lists give us insight into the curiosities that are capturing South Africa's attention,” said Google.
The giant search engine says it creates the lists using a combination of tools that provide insight into global, regional, past and present search trends in aggregate. “Much of the data is informed by Google Trends, a publicly available tool that displays relative search volume across geographies, time periods and queries. We've also filtered out spam, irrelevant queries and repeated queries so our lists can best reflect the “spirit of the times”.”
The Google searches are organised in two two categories: 'Trending' vs 'Most Searched'?
“The “trending” queries are the searches that had the highest amount of traffic over a specific period, while the “most searched” queries are simply the most popular terms for for a specific period, ranked in order by volume of searches.
From what gadgets and gizmos were trending, to what styles were hot, to which athletes inspired us, Zeitgeist showcases what captures the world's attention through the lens of Google Search.
South Africa Trending: Overall
1.nelson mandela
2. oscar pistorius
3. paul walker
4. defencex
5. vuyo mbuli
6. olx
7. standard bank internet
8. bbm for android
9. reeva steenkamp
10. royal baby
South Africa Top Trending: People
1. nelson mandela
2. oscar pistorius
3. paul walker
4. vuyo mbuli
5. reeva steenkamp
6. cory monteith
7. baby jake matlala
8. kim kardashian
9. burry stander
10. lance Armstrong
South Africa Top Trending: Global men
1. nelson mandela
2. oscar pistorius
3. paul walker
4. vuyo mbuli
5. cory monteith
6. baby jake matlala
7. burry stander
8. lance armstrong
9. baba jukwa
10. charlie hunnam
11. khuli chana
12. vuyo mokoena
South Africa Top Trending: SA men
1. nelson mandela
2. oscar pistorius
3. vuyo mbuli
4. baby jake matlala
5. burry stander
6. khuli chana
7. mandla mandela
8. vuyo mokoena
9. kurt darren
10. norman tloubatla
11. francois botha
South Africa Top Trending: Global women
1. reeva steenkamp
2. kim kardashian baby
3. margaret thatcher
4. melissa bachman
5. savita mbuli
6. amanda bynes
7. dakota johnson
8. nigella lawson
9. celine dion
10. anene booysen
South Africa Top Trending: SA women
1. reeva steenkamp
2. savita mbuli
3. anene booysen
4. mandy rossouw
5. khuli roberts
6. caster semenya
7. mamphela ramphele
8. mpisane
9. thandi maqubela
10. vega gupta
South Africa Trending: Sportspeople
1. oscar pistorius
2. baby jake matlala
3. burry stander
4. lance armstrong
5. gareth bale
6. mayweather
7. caster semenya
8. mesut ozil
9. david moyes
10. sachin tendulkar
South Africa Most Searched: SA sportspeople
1. Oscar Pistorius
2. Chad le Clos
3. Cameron van der Burgh
4. Mark Boucher
5. Siphiwe Tshabalala
6. Ernie Els
7. Ryk Neethling
8. Jacques Kallis
9. Sunette Viljoen
10. Graeme Smith
South Africa Trending: Politicians
1. mamphela ramphele
2. mmusi maimane
3. lindiwe mazibuko
4. patricia de lille
5. trevor manuel
6. gwede mantashe
7. blade nzimande
8. nkosazana dlaminizuma
9. cyril ramaphosa
10. helen zille
South Africa Most Searched: Politicians
1. Jacob Zuma
2. Julius Malema
3. Thabo Mbeki
4. Lindiwe Mazibuko
5. Mamphela Ramphele
6. Helen Zille
7. Cyril Ramaphosa
8. Blade Nzimande
9. Gwede Mantashe
10. Trevor Manuel
South Africa Most Searched: SA comedians
1. Trevor Noah
2. Barry Hilton
3. Nik Rabinowitz
4. Loyiso Gola
5. Marc Lottering
EVENTS
South Africa Trending: Regular events
1. afcon
2. dakar
3. easter
4. wimbledon
5. budget speech
6. durban july
7. oscars
8. ramadan
9. icc champions trophy
10. cape epic
South Africa Trending: Events
1. nelson mandela
2. paul walker dies
3. boston bombing
4. reeva steenkamp funeral
5. red october
6. gupta wedding
7. costa concordia
8. pinetown accident
9. zimbabwe elections
10. vuyo mbuli funeral
South Africa Trending: Sports events
1. afcon
2. dakar
3. icc champions trophy
4. wimbledon
5. cape epic
6. confederations cup
7. australian open
8. wrestlemania
9. super rugby
10. warrior race
South Africa Trending: Holidays
1. easter
2. ramadan
3. public holidays
4. diwali
5. chinese new year
ENTERTAINMENT
South Africa Trending: TV series
1. idols sa
2. masterchef south africa
3. doctor who
4. isibaya
5. arrow
6. ray donovan
7. bba the chasse
8. the originals
9. american idols 2013
10. revenge season 3
South Africa Most Searched: TV series
1. Suits
2. Vampire Diaries
3. Game of Thrones
4. Generations
5. Revenge
6. Revolution
7. Glee
8. Masterchef Australia
9. Supernatural
10. Breaking Bad
TECHNOLOGY
South Africa Trending: Technology
1. bbm for android
2. wechat
3. samsung galaxy s4
4. blackberry 10
5. ios 7
6. bitstrips
7. iphone 5s
8. samsung galaxy s3
9. xbox one
10. fifa 14
South Africa Trending: Gaming
1. fifa14
2. atari breakout
3. gta v
4. kings of chaos
5. simcity
MUSIC
South Africa Trending: Music artitsts
1. swedish house mafia
2. vuyo mokoena
3. khuli chana
4. kurt darren
5. bon jovi
6. celine dion
7. robin thicke
8. metallica
9. ariana grande
10. katy perry
OTHER
South Africa Trending: Online shopping
1. olx
2. zando
3. spree
4. computicket south africa
5. style 36
South Africa Trending: FADS
1. harlem shake
2. twerking
3. gangman style
4. wrecking ball
5. minions
CURRENT AFFAIRS
South Africa Trending: Regional and local politics
1. eff
2. red october
3. budget speech 2013
4. mamphela ramphele
5. zimbabwe elections
6. agang
7. vavi
8. kenya elections
9. dina pule
10. uhuru Kenyatta
FINANCE
South Africa Trending: Banking.Finance
1. standard bank
2. absa
3. nedbank
4. wonga
5. capitec
EDUCATION
South Africa Trending: Education
1. unisa south africa
2. puff and pass
3. up portal
4. tmlearn
5. ukzn email
6. school terms
7. school holidays 2014
8. bursaries for 2014
9. wits sakai
10. glenvista high school
MEDIA
South Africa Trending: Media
1. power fm
2. enca
3. maroela media
4. ann7
5. news24 online
HOW TO
South Africa Trending: How to
1. twerk
2. fight
3. survive
4. tutt
5. drawing
6. massage
7. dance
8. skip
9. kickflip
10. code
WHAT IS
South Africa Trending: What is
1. twerking
2. ecommunication
3. instagram
4. christmas
5. lte
6. sake
7. refugee
8. seo
9. monsanto
10. research. IOL