Katlego Maboe, unemployment grant and pizza dough recipe lead Google’s in search for the year

Trending

The top trending South African personality for this year goes to Katlego Maboe.

Google’s annual Year in Search might be something to brag about, put on your social media bios and use as some lekker festive season banter, but Mr Chencha-dai-ding and Nikita Murry, who appears second behind him on the list, will probably want to forget they trended this year.

The fact that you are reading about them on the internet means you know what went down.

Read more here

On Wednesday Google SA released its year in search results for South Africa with Joe Biden leading the trending politicians list, Kobe Bryant leading the trending personalities we lost list, and, yes, you guessed it, coronavirus as the top trending search for this year.

Search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what South Africans have been searching for and asking Google this year.

In sport the top trending search was for the Premier League, while those searching for recipes wanted to know how to make pizza dough, doughnuts and pineapple beer.

The most asked question on Google in South Africa for this year? “How to apply for an unemployment grant?” underpinned the economic tragedy that was experienced by many South Africans as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read: Google reveals its top searches in South Africa during 2019 and the decade

South African politicians did not trend as much as their international counterparts with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga the highest South African, featuring fifth on the list.

Interestingly, not a single party leader was mentioned in any of the lists. Though the question “what time is the president on tonight?” (which sounds like a cool binge-worthy series) was third after “Who won the election?” (presumably the US elections) on the trending questions list.

Surprises

Home improvement (Builders, Midas and hardware near me searches) seemed to be a trend this year as well, and to a large extent makes sense with many people at home and wanting to improve their surroundings.

Trips to Mars also trended, maybe to visit the aliens or escape the virus or just escape humans in general?

“Pornstar martini recipe” and “why were chainsaws invented” were also some surprises this year, including “why were cornflakes invented?”

Here are the nine lists:

Find out more here: Google’s trends site

Muhammad Hussain  Journalist +27 11 713 9001 Muhammad.Hussain@citypress.co.za www.citypress.co.za 69 Kingsway Rd, Auckland Park