Top most popular Google searches of 2014

What Interested Us in 2014?

2014 was the year that actor Robin Williams tragically took his own life in his California home. His untimely death saw his name become the most popular Google search term of 2014, both in the US and worldwide. But what else piqued our interest last year?
In the US, the most searched terms on Google were:

• World Cup;
• Ebola;
• Malaysian Airlines;
• Flappy Bird;
• ALS Ice Bucket Challenge;
• ISIS;
• Ferguson;
• Frozen;
• Ukraine.

Outside the US, the list didn’t vary much. The Ferguson shooting and subsequent riots were replaced by Eurovision star and gay icon Conchita Wurst, who reached #7 on the most searched terms globally list; and the Sochi Olympics, which eased in at number 10.
Globally, Ebola and ISIS were the most searched news terms, with Malaysia Airlines, Ukraine/Crimea and Ferguson following closely behind.

Other sites produced their own lists showcasing the year in review.
On Facebook, Ebola dominated the conversation; while Disney resorts were the most checked-into places.
The World Cup was Twitter’s main sports story of 2014; and Ellen’s Oscar selfie was named as the site’s “Golden Tweet.”
Celebrity gossip made up the majority of Yahoo searches as a whole, but the single most searched term on the site was, again, Ebola.

Bing users appeared to be less concerned about the Ebola outbreak, instead searching most often for the World Cup. In fact, at number 8 on the list, Ebola was also deemed less important than the Super Bowl; the missing Malaysia Airlines plane; the Winter Olympics; shamed NFL star Ray Rice and the growth of ISIS.

Tumblr’s Top Sponsored Post of 2014 was AT&T’s “themobilemovement.”
The Most Engaged Marketer list on LinkedIn was dominated by Pricewaterhouse Cooper, who took 40% of the top 10 places.
Pinterest broke with convention by producing a list of 100 Trending Pins for 2015 rather than the more traditional “Year In Review” list.