With 2012 winding to a close, it's time for Dogpile® to take a fond look back at the terms that our users searched for the most. There were quite a few noteworthy events in 2012: The first social media Olympics, the most expensive U.S. presidential election in history, and more celebrities bursting onto the national stage as others quietly slipped off. All in all, 2012 was pretty exciting.
Out of the millions of “fetches,” or searches, queried on www.Dogpile.com this year, we put together a list of the most popular ones.
Social Media and Shopping Sites Top Them All
Socializing and shopping were the top two online interests in 2012. Facebook has topped our list of search terms for four years in a row, leaving no question about it: Americans “like” using Facebook to socialize online. Facebook's IPO in May could also have helped it maintain the top overall ranking yet again. In order of popularity, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, and Tumblr were also listed among our users' top searched social networks.
E-commerce sites Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay were all among the top five searches in 2012. This may be both a sign of an improving economic environment and further evidence that Dogpile users are getting increasingly comfortable shopping online. Walmart tops the list of Dogpile users' favorite brick-and-mortar retailer search terms, followed by Lowe's, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Target.
Top Overall Searches on Dogpile in 2012:
1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. eBay
4. Craigslist
5. Amazon
6. MapQuest
7. Walmart
8. Netflix
9. Weather
10. Drudge Report
Top Retailer Searches:
1. Walmart
2. Lowe's
3. Home Depot
4. Best Buy
5. Target
6. Sears
7. Costco
8. Staples
9. Kohl's
10. Kmart
Dr. Oz Jumps to Number 2; Ousts Bieber
Last year, Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber secured top overall search spots. This year, however, the oldest of the Kardashian reality show trio missed the top search list, and only made it onto the top 10 celebrity list. To our surprise, and perhaps yours, of the stars that Dogpile users entered into the search box, the only man to make the list was Dr. Oz, who jumped all the way to number two and bumped Bieber right off. However, Bieber's ex-girlfriend, Selena Gomez, did make the top 10 celebrity list.
Top Celebrity Searches:
1. Kate Upton
2. Dr. Oz
6. Emma Watson
7. Selena Gomez
8. Megan Fox
9. Mila Kunis
10. Kristen Stewart
U.S. Presidential Election and iPhone 5 Top the News
Dogpile users also sniffed out information on the biggest breaking, tech and entertainment news stories of 2012. Not surprisingly, the number one news item was the United States presidential election. President Obama was the most searched candidate, followed by Mitt Romney and then Rick Santorum.
Following news of the election, the release of Apple's iPhone 5 came in second on the list, followed by Hurricane Sandy and her devastation on the east coast. The 2012 London Olympics and Whitney Houston's death round out the top 5 news items. The David Petraeus sex scandal made a late entry for popular 2012 news stories. Whether it was good news or bad, curious users came to Dogpile to find out what was going on.
Top News Searches:
10. Petraeus Scandal
Time Passed and New Friends Were Made
Catching up on non-stop celebrity gossip and world events is easy with Dogpile's search features and favorite fetches. In addition to shopping, socializing, and reading news on the web, Dogpile made a list of some of our users' favorite online diversions. YouTube was the favorite place to watch the latest videos and Netflix took the favorite spot for watching movies and TV shows online. Following behind this list, but well above several thousands of other pop culture searches, E.L. James's “Fifty Shades of Grey,” English-Irish boy band One Direction, and Korean rapper Psy's “Gangnam Style” placed among users top entertainment searches. Dogpile users did another type of search online with the use of dating websites to help find someone special to meet offline. Plenty of Fish took Match.com's top spot as the preferred dating site for Dogpile users.
Top Online Diversions:
1. Facebook
2. YouTube
3. eBay
4. Craigslist
5. Amazon
6. Netflix
8. ESPN
9. TMZ
10. Pinterest
Competitors Gain Traction, but Apple Still Tops the Tech List
Finally, Dogpile users searched for the latest and greatest consumer electronics. Last year, the newest generation Apple iPad and iPhone topped the list, and 2012 is no different. With the launch of the iPad 3 in March and the iPhone 5 in September, Dogpile users were clearly out to learn more about these much-anticipated, new tech toys. Amazon's Kindle outranked Barnes & Noble's Nook, and even Google's new tablet, the Nexus 7, snuck onto the list. Whether users were searching for reviews on their tech gadgets, finding stores to purchase them, or fetching cool features to try on their new tech tools, Dogpile helped them sniff out what they wanted.
Top Tech Products:
1. iPad 3
2. iPhone 5
3. Windows 8
4. Xbox 360
5. Kindle Fire
6. iPod
8. iPad Mini
10. Samsung Galaxy
Looking back on the top searches of 2012, what Dogpile users seemingly wanted most was to connect with others on social networking sites, to sell or shop on websites like eBay, Craigslist and Amazon, or to get their latest news and entertainment updates. Thanks to our partnerships with Google and Yahoo!, as well as our new partnership with Russia's leading search engine, Yandex, we spent 2012 providing our users with the most comprehensive search results available on the web. Now, we look forward to moving beyond the Mayan prophecy of 12/21/12 and, instead, to continue helping Dogpile users find more of what they want to search for in 2013.
For more on Dogpile searches, follow Dogpile's mascot, Arfie, on our Dogpile Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dogpilesearch. Also, visit www.Dogpile.com, where you'll find a daily listing of Dogpile's favorite fetches.
About Dogpile®
For millions of people every day, Dogpile goes beyond search as usual by providing a fun and engaging place to discover the web and all it has to offer through comprehensive search results from leading search partners. Dogpile is the flagship search engine of the InfoSpace search service, which also operates the branded search sites, MetaCrawler® and WebCrawler®. InfoSpace is a leading provider of white label search and monetization solutions, and is a business unit of Blucora™ BCOR. Learn more about InfoSpace and Blucora at www.blucora.com.
Blucora
Stacy Ybarra, 425-709-8127
stacy.ybarra@blucora.com
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
