It’s that time of year again, when we see all sorts of media publishing a barrage of year-in-review pieces. Obviously some are better than others, and one of my favorites so far is Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) extensive presentation of hot topics from the past year. Its Zeitgeist 2012 page is a fun overview of what the world was searching for over in 2012, as is its video summary which is included below.
So what was big in Asia over the past year? Google points out that all things mobile proved to be very hot this year. Asia’s fascination with mobile, if it wasn’t apparent already, was hard to miss in 2012, as Apple’s iPad 3 was a trending search in China, but so were ‘Android games.’ The iPad Mini and iOS 6 were popular in Japan, as were searches about popular chat app Line, and how to use it. Samsung had a successful year in 2012, and in Vietnam the Samsung’s Galaxy was one of the most popular searches. Even in India, the perpetual vaporware Aakash tablet was a trending search.
As for the most discussed topics, it’s pretty fascinating to note that while PSY’s infectious Gangnam Style was the second most popular search worldwide (behind the late Whitney Houston), that certain Asian regions proved practically immune from this viral video, notably India, Japan, and Taiwan.
If you’d like to drill down to see more insights about your own country, do head over to Google’s Zeitgeist page and give it a try. It’s pretty fascinating.
Google isn’t alone in its efforts to summarize the past year for us. Twitter has an insightful overview of what the world was talking about in the past year, as well as a function that lets you view your own personal year of Tweeting via a Vizify page. In much the same way, Facebook has a clever personalized Year-in-Review page where you can see a summary of all your 2012 activity.
What will you remember most about 2012? Let us know in the comments.
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