Bing Top Trends In 2015: Serena Williams, Refugee Crisis & Pluto Searches Surge
Bing says 51 percent of searches for professional tennis players were for Serena Williams.
Since posting its top searches for 2015, Bing has released a quick overview of its top trends, highlighting the search topics that saw the biggest spike in search volume this year.
Mirroring its top search results, women dominated Bing’s search trends — specifically women in sports, with the US women’s national soccer team, Ronda Rousey, Serena Williams and Caitlyn Jenner all highlighted among Bing’s top 2015 search trends.
Bing says it saw the transgender identity trend “like never before” after Caitlyn Jenner’s appearance on “20/20” and her subsequent “Vanity Fair” interview.
“Searches appeared to indicate an acknowledgment of Jenner’s gender identity as people searched 3-to-1 for Caitlyn Jenner over Bruce Jenner,” says Bing.
Another female athlete to rise in popularity on Bing was Serena Williams. The tennis star won 51 percent of the searches for professional tennis players on the site.
The EU refugee crisis also saw a sharp rise in searches, with people not only wanting to know more but also searching for ways to help refugees.
“Recent search volume continues to reflect interest in the situation and the evolving public discourse as people considered other aspects of the crisis,” says Bing of its refugee search volume.
NASA’s New Horizons space mission in July helped drive searches for Pluto, resulting in nearly a 160-percent increase in Bing searches for the (former) planet. The discovery of water on Mars did the same for the Red Planet, with “Mars” searches spiking more than 530 percent between August and September.
The Charlie Hebdo and November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris pushed searches for the city, with surges in searches for both “Paris attack” terms, as well as “Paris support” terms.
Along with its list of top trends, Bing also put together a 2015 news quiz.
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