Johannesburg, 17 January 2019 — Amongst the top trending searches on Google this week: one star’s dirty laundry, another star’s guilt by association, a controversial publicity stunt, and more.
“Meteorite” trended on Thursday as news broke of a meteor that had entered the earth’s atmosphere above the Western Cape on Wednesday night. Residents reported seeing a flash of light trailing along the sky, followed by a loud bang.
On Wednesday the top trending Google search term was “Ntando Duma”, which generated more than 5 000 queries. The TV personality made headlines after taking to social media to blast her ex-boyfriend and father of her child, Junior De Rock. Duma accused De Rock of not paying child support and being an absent father.
On Tuesday, internet users generated more than 20 000 search queries for the term “Brexit” as the UK parliament voted against Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal with 432 votes to 202. “Kenya” also generated more than 20 000 Google search queries as it emerged that fifteen people had died in an Islamist terror attack in Nairobi.
Fans generated more than 10 000 search queries for “Nomzamo Mbatha” on Monday. South Africa’s sweetheart trended after a picture surfaced depicting her posing with infamous Kwaito star, Arthur Mafokate, at the ANC manifesto launch in Durban. Arthur has been accused of assaulting his former girlfriend and faces charges of intent to do grievous bodily harm.
The passing of South African soccer legend Philemon Masinga left South African soccer fans in shock and in respectful mourning on Sunday. Masinga, who represented South African in a Bafana jersey and played for British soccer team, Leeds in the 1990s, died at the age of 49 years old. While the football world eulogised him and looked back on his legacy, netizens generated more than 100 000 search queries for“Phil Masinga” on Sunday.
Female rapper and television presenter, Nomuzi Mabena, trended on social media last Friday morning, following a disturbing Instagram LIVE video which showed her getting into a car accident while addressing her fans online. It emerged, later on Friday, that the accident was a publicity stunt orchestrated as part of a Volkswagen Drive Dry campaign. “Nomuzi Mabena” and “Moozlie” generated more than 50 000 queries respectively.
Search trends information is gleaned from data collated by Google based on what South Africans have been searching for and asking Google. Google processes more than 40 000 search queries every second. This translates to more than a billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide. Live Google search trends data is available at https://www.google.co.za/trends/hottrends#pn=p40