How sport topped web trends in 2012
This was the year that Euro 2012 dominated Google search but everyone was talking about the Olympics on Twitter.
Google has revealed that the top trending term for the UK in 2012 was Euro 2012, beating Olympics tickets to the top spot and literally putting London on the map – as the most searched for city.
The Olympics had a huge impact of course, with Stella McCartney becoming the most searched for designer and Muse’s Survival a top trending song, although it was soon overtaken by the implacable Gangam Style.
It was on Twitter that the Olympics made the biggest impact with 150 million tweets sent about the Games and Boris Johnson’s unusual dancing creating the most talked about event, as millions of UK users shared their views.
During the Spice Girls’ performance at the closing ceremony, that provoked the mayor’s dancing, there were more than 116,000 tweets per minute as the nation was whipped into a frenzy.
The next most tweeted about event was England’s tense loss on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2012 quarter finals in June.
Andy Murray was the most searched for Olympian on Google followed by Tom Daley and Jess Ennis but it was Usain Bolt’s 100m victory that got people talking on Twitter.
The most searched for person of the year was Whitney Houston, who died aged 48 last February, on the eve of the Grammy awards.
In the political realm Jeremy Hunt was put in the spotlight as culture secretary and the man responsible for security at the Olympic games – he became the top trending politician of 2012, beating Boris Johnson to the top spot.
Londoners were most interested in Jubilee street parties but spent more time looking up the weather and holidays than anywhere else in the country.
The Olympics saw interest in sports rise across Britain, as Edinburgh and Glasgow rose to the challenge, topping search rankings for athletics and equestrian clubs.
In the West Midlands searches for gymnastics clubs were higher than anywhere else in the country. In Bristol searches for road bikes and running clubs were higher than anywhere else in the country.
Liverpool is the celebrity gossip capital of the UK with the most searches made for Mail Online.
Google top trending Searches
1. Euro 2012
2. Olympic tickets
3. Whitney Houston
4. Kate Middleton
5. April Jones
6. Netflix
7. Natwest online
8. ipad 3
9. Gary Barlow
10. Gangnam Style
Top Twitter moments
1. Olympics: David Cameron, Samantha Cameron and Boris Johnson dancing
2. Euro 2012: England losing on penalties to Italy
3. X Factor: Ella Henderson being voted off
4. Olympics: Usain Bolt winning the men's 100m gold medal.
5. Olympics: Rowan Atkinson's Mr Bean Chariots Of Fire sketch
6. X Factor: Rylan Clark and Kye Sones' deadlock
7. Euro 2012: Theo Walcott's goal against Sweden
8. X Factor: Gary Barlow storming off
9. Euro 2012: Joleon Lescott's goal against France
10. Champions League: Cristiano Ronaldo's goal puts Real Madrid 3-2 up
