Over the past few weeks, South Africans searched for more information on big sporting events, national holidays and events impacting the economy based on Google search activity in May.
News of the Repo rate increasing by 50 basis points last month to 4.75% saw many South Africans wanting to find out more about what it is, while an increase in Monkeypox cases piqued search interest as well. Several high profile deaths also ranked in the top searched terms including those of former Johannesburg mayor Mpho Moerane, Hillary Gardee, and actor Ray Liotta. Actor Siyabonga Zubane, who died early in May made the list twice, as people also searched for his well-loved character Sdumo, from the show Gomora.
The search for Mother’s Day messages and clarification around when Father’s Day occurs also appeared in the top ten questions and terms respectively. Many South Africans searched for more information on what Africa Day, celebrated on the 25th of May, entails.
Citizens were also curious about human rights, with the right to freedom of speech and the impact of social media on the right to privacy both appearing among the top ten questions searched for in May.
On the sporting front, excitement around international events like the Champions League final which saw Liverpool face off against Real Madrid and the Italian Open, won by Novak Djokovic were among the most searched locally.
Here’s everything that piqued South Africa’s curiosity in May:
Search trends information is gathered from data collated by Google based on what South Africans have been searching for. 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. ‘Top searches’ indicate searches that topped Google’s charts while ‘Most searched’ queries are the most popular terms for the past 15 years, ranked in order by volume of searches. Live Google search trends data is available at https://www.google.co.za/trends/hottrends#pn=p40
