Editorial: Online searches speak volumes

Donald Trump was the Bay's most searched item on Google this year. Photo / AP

The results are out for the most searched Google items in 2016.

According to today's story on p3, "Donald Trump" and "Major Lazer" topped searches in Hawke's Bay this year.

Though why you'd search either, is beyond me.

The President-Elect has dominated the year's news, so additional searching seems a tad pointless - in fact it beggars belief.

The latter, Major Lazer, I'd never heard of. I had to google the American electronic music band to find out why everyone was googling it. I'm none the wiser.

Other high frequency searches from this region sounded a little more like something I'd punch into the browser. Namely, "fishing", "earthquake", "the Olympics" and "Joseph Parker".

Nationally, "GeoNet", "Olympics" and the "US election" came out on top of the trending podium, followed by "Euro 2016", "earthquake NZ" and "Pokemon Go".

It's a telling slice of what's pushed the nation's buttons this year.

The common search denominator both locally and nationally is our infatuation with earthquakes. It shows just how they've loomed large in the 2016 national consciousness.

That said, it didn't trump the other natural disaster poised to be sworn in as President next month.

Other findings showed that our top trending Kiwis were boxer Joseph Parker, All Black Aaron Smith, Olympic bronze medallist pole vaulter Eliza McCartney, Olympic gold medallist kayaker Lisa Carrington and former TV bachelor Jordan Mauger.

If the most popular search topics are a delineation of a nation, how then do we best sum ourselves up?

Perhaps, if the Shaky Isles were an advertisement in the personals column, it'd read: "Athletic & earthy music lover who enjoys social media and geo-politics."