{"id":107323,"date":"2015-12-16T10:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T08:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=107323"},"modified":"2015-12-15T17:50:47","modified_gmt":"2015-12-15T15:50:47","slug":"the-biggest-trends-in-south-africa-in-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/107323\/the-biggest-trends-in-south-africa-in-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"The biggest trends in South Africa in 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google has released its ‘Zeigeist’ for 2015, showing which terms and topics were the biggest trends in South Africa over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

While President Jacob Zuma dominated discussions over social media<\/a> during the year, South Africans turned to the world’s biggest Internet company for more pressing issues:<\/p>\n

Load shedding was the biggest trending topic in the country in 2015, after the dreaded blackout left South Africans in the dark for more than half the year.<\/p>\n

Other searches which topped the trends include, xenophobia, the Cricket World Cup, as well as various celebrities such as August Alsina, Lamar Odom, Caitlyn Jenner and Jeremy Clarkson.<\/p>\n

Murdered musician, Flabba, was the top trending South African in 2015, and actor Simba Mhere, who died in a car accident, was the second most searched South African.<\/p>\n

\"Electricity<\/p>\n

South Africa Trending: Overall Searches<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Load shedding<\/li>\n
  2. August Alsina<\/li>\n
  3. Xenophobia<\/li>\n
  4. Cricket World Cup<\/li>\n
  5. Lamar Odom<\/li>\n
  6. Caitlyn Jenner<\/li>\n
  7. Adele Hello<\/li>\n
  8. Flabba<\/li>\n
  9. BMW i8<\/li>\n
  10. Jeremy Clarkson<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Flabba\"<\/p>\n

    Trending South African<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Flabba<\/li>\n
    2. Simba Mhere<\/li>\n
    3. Cassper Nyovest<\/li>\n
    4. Pastor Zondo<\/li>\n
    5. Collins Chabane<\/li>\n
    6. Pulane Lenkoe<\/li>\n
    7. Senzo Meyiwa<\/li>\n
    8. Itumeleng Khune<\/li>\n
    9. Saba Mbixane<\/li>\n
    10. Jackie Selebi<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"Xenophobia\"<\/p>\n

      Trending Current Affairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Load shedding<\/li>\n
      2. Xenophobia<\/li>\n
      3. Charlie Charlie<\/li>\n
      4. Charlie Hebdo<\/li>\n
      5. Ashley Madison<\/li>\n
      6. Collins Chabane<\/li>\n
      7. Boko Haram<\/li>\n
      8. Isis<\/li>\n
      9. Nepal Earthquake<\/li>\n
      10. SONA<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        As part of its Zeirgeist, Google also provides some insight into ‘phrase searches’ – specifically queries on how to do things, or to find out what things are.<\/p>\n

        These were the most searched “how to” and “what is” topics in 2015:<\/p>\n

        How To\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. How to cast<\/li>\n
        2. How to apologise<\/li>\n
        3. How to e-wallet<\/li>\n
        4. How to kick<\/li>\n
        5. How to smoke<\/li>\n
        6. How to treat<\/li>\n
        7. How to paint<\/li>\n
        8. How to prank<\/li>\n
        9. How to quickscope<\/li>\n
        10. How to bat<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          What Is…<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. What is xenophobia<\/li>\n
          2. What is ebola<\/li>\n
          3. What is occupation<\/li>\n
          4. What is isis<\/li>\n
          5. What is constipation<\/li>\n
          6. What is shrub<\/li>\n
          7. What is rpl<\/li>\n
          8. What is meth<\/li>\n
          9. What is polyamory<\/li>\n
          10. What is submissive<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            More on social media<\/h3>\n

            Social media numbers in SA: Mxit tanks, Facebook keeps winning<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

            Social media is not the \u2018brand engagement king\u2019 it promised to be<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

            SA social media storms in 2014<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Google has released its ‘Zeigeist’ for 2015, showing which terms and topics were the biggest trends in South Africa over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":87984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882],"tags":[53,26],"class_list":["post-107323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-google","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107327,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107323\/revisions\/107327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}