Top Searches in 2006 - Reading the Tea Leaves

What are people searching for online? A quick survey of the top 10 searches in 2006 as reported by MediaPost of the three major search engines reveals the following:

Yahoo:

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Shakira
4. Jessica Simpson
5. Paris Hilton
6. American Idol
7. Beyonce Knowles
8. Chris Brown
9. Pamela Anderson
10. Lindsay Lohan

MSN

1. Ronaldinho
2. Shakira
3. Paris Hilton
4. Britney Spears
5. Harry Potter
6. Eminem
7. Pamela Anderson
8. Hilary Duff
9. Rebelde
10. Angelina Jolie

Google

1. Bebo
2. Myspace
3. World Cup
4. Metacafe
5. Radioblog
6. Wikipedia
7. Video
8. Rebelde
9. Mininova
10. Wiki

My quick takeaways:

1) Old School Celebrity rules: So much for the long tail, it appears that the head of the tail is dominated by mainstream celebrities who are promoted and financed by mainstream (aka old) media. No Lonely Girl here.

2) Web 2.0 is in the driver's seat: Check out Google's list- Myspace, Metacafe, RadioBlog, Wiki (2x). For marketers this is a clear call to action to sell where communities live.

3) Think Global: Bebo, Ronaldinho, Rebelde- after all, it is the world wide web. These stats remind me that US centric thinking can blind us to opportunities outside our borders.

Merry Christmas and may all your searches be bright!