As 2022 draws to a close, Tech giant Google has released its Year in Search results, which revealed all the information and questions South Africans sought out this year.
Google’s Year in Search is an annual analysis that reveals the top trending lists and spotlights what the world searches to see, learn and do.
In a year characterised by increased load shedding, the war in Ukraine, the FIFA football World Cup and deaths of a number of high-profile South Africans, the public turned to Google for more information.
Top trending search
For the second year in a row, the top trending search term in South Africa related to social grants as South Africans sought to find out more about the R350 SASSA Social Relief (SRD) grant.
Wordle, the online word game that captured the world’s attention, was the second most searched term, followed by climate change.
Other top trending searches were related to the war in Ukraine, load shedding, typhoid fever and monkeypox.
Dr Alistair Mokoena, Country Director for Google South Africa said the annual Year in Search results are a good example of Google’s commitment to organising the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful, in action.
“This year’s results show that Google is a trusted source of information when South Africans are uncertain, sad, or looking for ways to learn more or entertain themselves.”
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People searches
South Africa also searched for people on Google with American rapper Jaden Smith topping the list, followed in second place by his father Will Smith who was searched alongside Chris Rock following the slapping incident at the Oscars.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard occupied third and fourth places after their protracted and public court case.
Music
It was a sad year for music in South Africa, with a number of high-profile deaths.
Rapper Riky Rick was the most searched loss while South Africans also turned to Google to find out more following the deaths of musicians Dj Sumbody, Takeoff and Dj Dimplez.
TV shows
Big Brother Mzansi was the most searched for TV show or movie in the country with the Addams Family adaptation, Wednesday, following in second place.
Black Panther 2 and Wakanda Forever both feature in the top 10 trending searches for TV shows and movies.
Sport
With South Africa being a sports loving nation, the 2022 Year in Search results revealed that Football occupied the top three searches- with World Cup 2022 fixtures as the top trending sport search, followed by Afcon and South Africa’s women’s football team Banyana Banyana.
The rest of the top 10 also featured searches for tennis (Australian Open), Rugby (Springboks v All Blacks) and cricket (South Africa v India).
Google said curiosity remained high among citizens, with a variety of questions around climate change, current affairs and pop culture being searched.
“Some of these searches included ‘what is global warming’, ‘what is drought’, ‘who is the new Black Panther’ and ‘how to check matric results online,” the search giant said.
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