A quick look at Google Zeitgeist 2006 tells volumes about how people use the internet, and what is important to the general populace.

First off, the two most search for words are "myspace" and "bebo". Both are social networking sites. The curious part is that people search for them rather than just tack on .com and type that in the URL.

This is not a case of simply typing "myspace" or "bebo" by itself in the browser's URL, because most people still use Microsoft Internet Explorer, and it does not default to a Google search.

The most searched for news term is "Paris Hilton". It seems that attention seeking socialite is more important than "cancer" and "autism". I am not sure why "bankruptcy" is there in the top 10 news searches.

Regarding current events, along with the searches for "where is darfur" and "where is togo", there is one for "where is .com au"? I guess it is still "down there". This is more searched for than "where is palestine".

The list for "who is ..., what is ..." is also very interesting, consisting of world events (prophet Muhammad cartoons, Israel/Hezbollah war, and a bunch of drugs). While the English speaking world was searching for the definition of "promiscuous", there were searches for the Spanish definitions for science, administration, philosophy, and quality. However the search for ensayo (essay) gives away the possibility that it is students doing their homework who are doing this.

Interestingly enough, the definition for web 2.0 is the second most searched for definition.