Popularity

Everyday, as I am logging into my Yahoo! email, I see on the upper right hand corner "Popular Searches". The titles of the most popular searches regularly include the names celebrities, movie titles, video games, things to buy, and football teams. I decided to check a couple of them out. It was in that moment that I realized that the most popular searches on Yahoo! were "news" about the lives of celebrities. Who is getting divorced, who was arrested, who is in what movie, who is endorsing what product. This is what people are on the Internet are searching for? The list changes often, but this is the current moment's list.

Cyber Monday (the Internet Shopping version of Black Friday)
Elizabeth Smart

New Orleans Sain…

GPS Systems

The Princess and…

Charlize Theron

Visa Lottery (this is actually interesting...due to crack down of undocumented workers?)

Ashlee Simpson

Pink Floyd

Mortgage Rates

Interesting when we have things like health care reform, poverty and war going on around the world. It got me thinking more about the knowledge gap. Do those who have access to the internet use it to become informed about what is going on in the world? If you look at Yahoo! and their list of most popular searches, the answer is No!

To see the lists for yourself go to:
http://m.www.yahoo.com/

I recommend you view the list, avoid following the crowd, and search for something more interesting.

Or go shopping in order to avoid it all! : )