Google has released its Zeitgeist 2011 report (video posted below) detailing the most popular and the fastest rising terms that were typed into the search box of the company’s site during 2011.

Music (good & bad) made the people type together

Web sensation Rebecca Black, the teenage girl who had radio listeners reach for their dials whenever her ear-bleed-inducing single Friday was played, became the number one fastest rising search term around the world.

Black wasn’t the only songstress in the top 10 on Zeitgeist 2011, as the talented Adele sang her way to the top of the fastest rising lists in more than 15 countries spread across five continents, ensuring that she too claimed a spot in the top 10 (number 7) for the global list.

On the tech front

Google’s newly launched social network site Google+ came in second, marking the first time that one of the company's products managed to fall under the top 3 fastest rising terms. Other Google products and services that came close to netting a top 3 place was social networking site Orkut in 2005 which made it to number 5 and YouTube which was the sixth fastest rising query during 2007.

The sad passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (number 9) as well as a couple of his company’s products, the iPhone 5 (revealed to be the iPhone 4S) and iPad 2 (number 10) meant that the Cupertino-based tech outfit featured very prominently in the top 10.

Video games were represented by the highly anticipated Battlefield 3, which blasted its way to number 5 on the top 10 fastest rising searches list for 2011.

 

On the local side, tech managed to score first place, with instant messaging application Whatsapp claiming the top spot. More local tech related searches include Facebook sitting pretty on number 4, while the iPhone 5 (eight place) and Steve Jobs (tenth place) also made the cut. 

The top 10 Global Fastest Rising Searches list:

1. Rebecca Black
2. Google+
3. Ryan Dunn
4. Casey Anthony
5. Battlefield 3
6. iPhone 5
7. Adele
8. Japanese government’s ordered evacuation for residents near Fukushima nuclear plant
9. Steve Jobs
10. iPad 2

South Africa’s top 10 list of Fastest Rising Searches for 2011:

1. Instant messaging application Whatsapp
2. Rugby World Cup
3. Royal Wedding
4. Facebook
5. Amy Winehouse
6. Adele
7. Gaddafi
8. iPhone 5
9. New low-cost domestic airline Velvet Sky
10. Steve Jobs

Last year’s top 10 Global Fastest Rising Searches list:

1. chatroulette
2. iPad
3. Justin Bieber
4. Nicki Minaj
5. friv
6. Social radio app myxer
7. Katy Perry
8. Twitter
9. gamezer
10. Facebook

In related news Twitter recently revealed which events received the most tweets per second (TPS) during 2011, as well as the most popular topics of discussion and hashtags of this year.