Ukrainians were all about political news this year, as the web search results published by Google Ukraine reveal.
The EuroMaidan Revolution and Russia’s war over territories of Crimea and Donbas that followed it draw all the attention of the internet users. So what exactly Ukrainians were looking for in Google, world’s most popular web engine valued at $360 billion?
The list of the most searched people is topped by Viktor Yanukovych, the overthrown Ukrainian president who escaped to Russia during the Euromaidan Revolution in February. His successor and current President Petro Poroshenko, elected in May, got the second place.
Russian dictator-style leader Vladimir Putin comes third. The annexation of Crimean peninsula and the war against Ukraine made him one of the most discussed and searched-for people in Ukraine as well as around the globe.
The most searched woman this year was Russian singer Zhanna Friske, once a star of Blestyashchie pop band, who has been fighting the brain cancer. Her story was closely followed by the media, while her fans raised money to pay for the expensive treatment in the U.S.
A runner-up is Austria’s Konchita Wurst, seen as a woman by many though some may argue due to her transsexual identity. Globe’s second most searched woman has Thomas Neuwirth written in her passport, but won the Eurovision song contest this year as Konchita Wurst. Elegantly dressed, Wurst attracted jury’s sentiments as well as a public shock with a perfect make-up combined with a masculine beard.
The list of top 10 most googled people also includes American actor Robin Williams who died this year, German racing driver Michael Schumacher who recovered from a medical coma, Crimean separatist-minded prosecutor Nataliya Poklonskaya, a star of Japanese anime-style videos more known as a “cutie”, and two Ukrainian politicians – radical populist Oleg Lyashko and far-right nationalist Dmytro Yarosh.
The rapidly changing political situation in Ukraine widened a vocabulary of ordinary people. Through a search engine, that once was a startup launched by two Stanford University students, Ukrainians have been trying to understand things like lustration, federalization, annexation and fascism. Meanwhile, others put efforts in understanding what “selfie”, a smartphone-taken picture of oneself, means.
Molotov cocktail, a handmade bomb used by the EuroMaidan protesters, was the most googled recipe of 2014. Other searched-for recipes are more boring: pizza, cake icing and Easter bread.
After experiencing hot water supply shortages this summer, Ukrainians rushed to buy water heating boilers. It is number one in the list of the most googled purchases this year. Others are train tickets, dollars, iPhones and bulletproof vests, another must-have of an ordinary EuroMaidan protester.
Besides, Ukrainians asked Larry Bird’s and Sergey Brin’s multibillion search machine to tell them why the sky is blue, why the planes fly, why the water is wet and why President Petro Poroshenko is keeping calm.
Among the “why” searches were some weird ones. Ukrainians tried to find out why the pigs cough and why the legs get fat.
Top Google searches in Ukraine in 2014
Top 10 people:
1. Viktor Yanukovych
2. Zhanna Friske
3. Petro Poroshenko
4. Vladimir Putin
5. Robin Williams
6. Mihael Schumacher
7. Konchita Wurst
8. Nataliya Poklonskaya
9. Oleg Lyashko
10. Dmytro Yarosh
Top 10 purchases:
1. Water heating boiler
2. Train tickets
3. Dollar
4. iPhone 6
5. Bulletproof vest
6. Lenovo mobile phone
7. Nexus 6 mobile phone
8. Oil heater
9. Vyshyvanka
10. Goji berry
Top 10 recipes:
1. Molotov cocktail
2. Easter bread
3. Cake icing
4. Home-made pizza
5. “Vyshyvanka” cake
6. Cake pops
7. Miso soup
8. Pickled marrow
9. Zapikanka (cottage cheese cake)
10. Pickled cucumbers
Top 10 movies:
1. Interstellar
2. Kitchen in Paris
3. 47 Ronin
4. Viy
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. Frozen
7. Dracula Untold
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Yolki 3
10. Maleficent
Top 10 why questions:
1. The sky is blue
2. The planes fly
3. The water is wet
4. The kids hurl
5. The pigs cough
6. Vk (popular Russian social network) is blocked
7. The eyes are watering
8. The laptop is working slow
9. Poroshenko is keeping calm
10. Legs are getting fat
Top 10 terms:
1. Lustration
2. Selfie
3. Federalization
4. Default
5. Separatism
6. Ebola
7. Annexation
8. Hunta
9. Fascism
10. Titushky
Top 10 how questions:
1. To save the power
2. To wash a cat
3. To kiss right
4. To delete the ad
5. To draw a pony
6. To run properly
7. To reach success
8. To become an angel
9. To get booties into fit
10. To find a friend
