Google Zeitgeist: Zakumi, Vuvuzelas and the infamous Suarez moment

12 Jul 2010

The vuvuzela has certainly been one of the biggest talking points of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and has since crossed beyond South Africa's borders into other countries. Even celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio have been spotted with their lips around the plastic phenomenon.

Google Zeitgeist: Zakumi, Vuvuzelas and the infamous Suarez moment

Google Zeitgeist, a service that provides insight into global, national, past and present search trends, has revealed a few surprising findings about what interests us about this World Cup. For example, some of the findings reveal that the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates are the top countries searching for places to buy the vuvuzela, Uruguay is crazy over World Cup mascot Zakumi and South Africans are besotted with Paris Hilton.

Here are the top five Google Zeitgeist findings:

1. United Kingdom the number one vuvuzela country: Despite all the complaints about the noise the vuvuzela creates, the instrument has caught the attention of the British public. The number one country that has used Google to search for "places to buy a vuvuzela" is in fact the United Kingdom. British supermarket chain Sainsbury has sold more than 20 000 of the plastic instruments during the tournament. In second place is the United States and thirdly, believe it or not, the United Arab Emirates. A big order from a Sheik perhaps?

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About the author

Jeremy Daniel is a writer, musician and photographer living and working in Cape Town. He has written across various media platforms, including television, newspapers and advertising. He is fascinated by how new media is leveling the playing fields between large and small organisations and the impact of social media on emerging markets. Daniel is a contributor on [[www.memeburn.com]].