13th October, 2016
Nigeria’s 2-1 victory against Zambia in a World Cup Qualifier dominated Google’s search engine from Oct. 5 to Oct. 12, an official said on Thursday.
Mr. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, made the disclosure in a statement in Lagos.
“In the world of sports, the 2-1 victory of Nigeria over Zambia in a World Cup Qualifier got people’s attention online,
He said that Nollywood’s Femi Adebayo’s marriage, top musician, Phyno’s release – Pino Pino – and deadly storm – Hurricane Matthew – also dominated timelines, blogs and news sites.
“The latest results of online searches on Google this week shows the wedding of Femi Adebayo and Hurricane Matthew hitting top spots as the most searched by Nigerians for this week,” the manager said.
Kola-Ogunlade said that Adebayo, who was having a second shot at marriage, became a Google crush, as folks went on a search mission for details they might have missed on the couple.
“A new Matthew is found, who is not a disciple; Hurricane Matthew, sadly, is not a biblical disciple,” he said.
According to him, the storm tops searches on Google, after the ‘record-breaking’ storm affected four states in America and the Caribbean, with Haiti being the worst hit.
He noted that Hurricane Matthew killed many people and left thousands displaced, as waters wadded into many homes.
He said that America’s Presidential Candidate, Mr. Donald Trump’s attack on rival Hillary Clinton at the second presidential debate, as well his now famous “locker room talk”, equally got attention.
Kola-Ogunlade said that the news of inspirational speaker and popular author, Joyce Meyers’ rumoured death also got people searching on the internet.
“After the rumour of her death broke on the internet, the inspirational speaker and popular author, Joyce Meyers rebuffed rumours of her death.
“She thanked fans for their concern in a video, which showed her alive, well and bubbly,” he said.
The Google manager said that the week featured the release of two singles, that were from two top musicians, YBNL Boss and rapper Olajide and Phyno.
“Interestingly, two top musicians, YBNL Boss and rapper, Olamide ‘Baddo’ and Phyno made the search cut, with the release of their singles, ‘Orobo’ and ‘Pino Pino’ respectively.
“While Phyno croons a love song, Olamide gets down to all flattery for the size of a lover,” he said.
Kola-Ogunlade said that the death of entertainment mogul and Koga Studio boss, Chris Jeyibo, in an auto-crash, also made the top list for searches in the week.
“The shooting of Femi Bamiro, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, and the unconfirmed circulating reports of the death of a Cameroonian football legend, Rigobert Song, said to have suffered a stroke, also trended,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Google Trends launched in May 2006, allows one to see how popular, search terms and its demography have been over time on Google.