U.S. Election, iPhone 5, and Kardashian are Top Yahoo! Search Terms for 2012
Americans have an obsession with politics, smartphones, and celebrities, and apparently in that order. Or at least that's how it shook out on Yahoo! Search during an election year that saw President Barack Obama defeat GOP hopeful Mitt Romney in a hotly contested race.
"The United States is sometimes criticized for its citizens' apparent lack of interest in politics, at least beyond the celebrity angle. But 'elections' was this year's most-searched term on Yahoo!, even though the long campaign probably made a lot of people weary towards the end," Yahoo! said.
Only two other news events have ever captured the top spot in the dozen years Yahoo!'s been ranking its annual Top 10 searches. Those are the BP oil spill in 2010, and Michael Jackson's death in 2009.
Aside from the presidential race, American's were most interested in Apple's iPhone 5 device, which ranked No. 2 on Yahoo!'s list. The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone model to feature a 4-inch display, which is half-an-inch larger than every previous generation iPhone.
Kim Kardashian led all celebrity searches, just as she did on Bing, and ranked No. 3 on the list overall. The rest of the list is fleshed out with searches for (in order from No. 3 to No. 10) Kate Upton, Kate Middleton, Whitney Houston, Olympics, Political Polls, Lindsay Lohan, and Jennifer Lopez.
"The United States is sometimes criticized for its citizens' apparent lack of interest in politics, at least beyond the celebrity angle. But 'elections' was this year's most-searched term on Yahoo!, even though the long campaign probably made a lot of people weary towards the end," Yahoo! said.
Only two other news events have ever captured the top spot in the dozen years Yahoo!'s been ranking its annual Top 10 searches. Those are the BP oil spill in 2010, and Michael Jackson's death in 2009.
Aside from the presidential race, American's were most interested in Apple's iPhone 5 device, which ranked No. 2 on Yahoo!'s list. The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone model to feature a 4-inch display, which is half-an-inch larger than every previous generation iPhone.
Kim Kardashian led all celebrity searches, just as she did on Bing, and ranked No. 3 on the list overall. The rest of the list is fleshed out with searches for (in order from No. 3 to No. 10) Kate Upton, Kate Middleton, Whitney Houston, Olympics, Political Polls, Lindsay Lohan, and Jennifer Lopez.
