05 December 2006

Gather round: it's time for Yahoo!'s 'Top Searches for the Year'

Do your ears prick up when you hear phrases like 'The Top 10 Scandals', 'The 50 Most Beautiful People on the World' and 'The Top 60 Ways to Get Rich'?

Well, you're not alone. People generally love to feast their eyes upon rankings, whether they involve favourite celebrities, most disliked political figures or even the most common facts, such as 'the top ten reasons you should work out'.

Moreover, most media formats have caught on to the general public's craving for status through ranking, so they're everywhere; it's obvious in television shows like Britain's '8 out of 10 Cats', books such as '60 Ways to Get Rich and Stay Rich' and sections in newspapers reporting on the top ten places to eat this month.

The internet world is no exception. Global search engine Yahoo! has just released its sixth annual Top Searches for the Year, revealing who and what the world has been searching for in terms of news, sports and entertainment.

And it seems some things haven't changed since the top search rankings first emerged six years ago. Britney Spears, for example, topped the list of celebrity searches for the fifth time this year. In 2005, all the celebrities in the Top Search list had music, film or TV hits to their credits. However, 2006's rankings were dominated by young celebrities who were emerging - or battling - for their place in pop culture. Others, alongside Britney, include Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and Lindsay Lohan - most of who were popular to search due to scandals or mishaps such as drugs, divorce or affairs.

"Controversy rocked the lives of several of the stars on this year's Top Search list and The 2006 Yahoo! Top Searches illustrate that people are closely following celebrity happenings and scandals," said Yahoo! Editor Jess Barron.

So what makes these rankings so intriguing for the public? After all, no one wins anything in the end. Well, the account not only reiterates our interests - it sparks curiosity where curiosity is 'due.' Many people conducted a search on Britney Spears but will those who never thought to search for her before now conduct this search based solely on others' interests? You bet. Essentially, people want to know what others know - no one likes being left out of the loop, especially when the internet can deliver most, if not all, the information you need.

In terms of news, searches concerning the death of Anna Nicole Smith's son topped those of the US elections and the Israel-Lebanon conflict. Other leading news searches include the Danish cartoon protests, Dick Cheney shooting his hunting partner and the tragic death of Australian naturalist, Steve Irwin. Zinedine Zidane's head butt during the final of the football World Cup in Germany was one of the top searches conducted in the sports realm.

Yahoo! Answers also gained a powerful response over the year, with the most answered question - "If you were given $1,000 to change the life of a perfect stranger, what would you do?" - posed by Oprah Winfrey.

This year's Yahoo! Top Searches page will also include user-generated and social media content from Flickr and Yahoo! Video. And with the ever-growing popularity of online video sites, it's apparent that Yahoo! knows just what the public wants. So what can we expect to find rankings of next? Well, that's up to you - the public - isn't it?

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