Joseph Schooling is Singaporeans' most-searched person on Google
PUBLISHED ONDecember 14, 2016 12:44 PM
SINGAPORE - Olympic champ Joseph Schooling is Singaporeans' most searched person and athlete on Google this year, the search engine said today (Dec 14) as it revealed its hottest searches for 2016.
Schooling took home Singapore's first-ever Olympic gold medal for the 100m butterfly swimming event at the 2016 Rio Olympics in August, beating his idol Michael Phelps - and that historic win was enough to propel the 21-year-old to become a top trending person on Google search.
Read also: Life after Rio Olympics: 10 things to know about Joseph Schooling
Other personalities that Singaporeans were interested in include Donald Trump at no.2 top-searched and Heng Swee Keat at no.3 when the Finance Minister had a health scare earlier this year.
Another hit among Singaporeans was Pokemon Go as it was Singapore's no. 1 local trending news search on Google in 2016.
On the international front, Singaporeans kept an eye on important current affairs. From the US presidential elections to Brexit, these were the top 2 international trending news for Singaporeans in 2016.
Closer to home, many also searched for developments on the Zika virus when news of the first case of the disease hit our shores.
Taking top spot for trending TV shows is Descendants of the Sun, one of the most popular Korean dramas in Asia this year. The show also catapulted the leading actor Song Joong Ki into the 4th spot in the list of Singapore's top trending people in 2016.
Read also: Why aunties love Descendants of the Sun
Google also revealed that Turkey (no. 1) , Japan (no. 3) and Europe (no. 5) were among the top trending destinations that Singaporeans searched for this year.
Summing up the year, Angeline Leow, Head of Singapore Communications & Public Affairs, Google said: "Nobody likes being in the dark - especially in this digital age of real-time information and smartphones. This year we saw Singaporeans stay on top of the latest trends at home and around the world with Google Search. Be it keeping up with the latest news, searching for their next travel destination or lyrics to their favourite song - Singaporeans relied on Google to learn something new, have fun and get inspired."
maryanns@sph.com.sg