Earlier this month Google released its annual list - Google Zeitgeist - of most searched for terms and words of the year. Let's take a look back at this year's digital year and how we spent it.
Globally, the five trending terms with the largest increase in search volume since 2012 were Nelson Mandela, Paul Walker, iPhone 5s, Cory Monteith and Harlem Shake - quite an interesting and balanced mix between politics, pop culture and technology. Last year's searchers were Whitney Houston, Gangnam Style, Hurricane Sandy, iPad 3 and Diablo 3.
When broken down by region, the results are quite revelling and definitely interesting - to say the least. For example, Margaret Thatcher only top the UK's searches - in 9th position - and was the fifth most searched person this year in the UK.
Furthermore while the UK buzzed about the Eurovision, Grand National and the highly anticipated royal baby, France was interested in Roland Garros, Vendée Globe as well as the royal baby and Kate Middleton and the UAE ramadan 2013 topped the searches and Miley Cyrus was the second must searched musician.
Of the questions people in the UK asked Google, “what is twerking” and "How to make pancakes" topped the list. People also seemed to be interested in understanding what "zumba", "spooning" and "global warming" were.
As also, the announcement and release of new technology and gadgets got consumers interested and made for global popular searches; such as the iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy S4, Playstation 4 and Xbox one.
You can also explore the trends globe - which allows you to discover trends worldwide throughout 2013 and on specific dates.
You can also watch this year in review video:
