From Lenta.ru:
Yandex’s most searched topics of the year include the election and Sasha Grey
Russian search engine “Yandex” has analysed user searches to unearth the most popular topics of 2012. The results of the study have been released in a press release to Lenta.ru.
Webvybory2012.ru took the 2012 most-searched top spot, a website which broadcast videos from polling stations [around Russia] during the March 2012 Presidential Election. Just behind it was ‘iPhone 5’ which was released in September, ‘Higgs Boson’, as well as the new ‘AvtoVAZ Lada Largus’ [a car], and the anti-Islamic film ‘Innocence of Muslims.”
The 2012 Russian Presidential Election led in the “Events” category, which ranked above searches for “Eurovision”, the European Football Championship, the Olympics and the end of the world. The most popular man of the year was the host of ‘Gorodok’ (‘Little City’) Ilya Oleynikov, who died on November 11. The most-searched woman was Marina Golub, who died in a road accident on the night of October 10.
In the films category Yandex users were most interested in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2”, “The Avengers” and “Yolki 2” (Six Degrees of Celebration 2). Some of the most popular music searches included “ты кто такой? давай до свидания” (Who are you? See ya later!), “Gangnam Style”, [Michel Teló track] “Nossa nossa”, [Russia’s 2012 Eurovision entry] “Buranovskiye Babushki – Party For Everybody” and “Barà Barà Berè Berè” [also by Michel Teló].
Yandex also shared the most popular questions asked by users of the search engine. In 2012, they wanted to know “what is love?”, “what is thrush?”, “what is 228?” [the article of the Russian criminal codex referring to drug possession], “what is sex?”, “what is ovulation?” and “what does ‘bro’ mean?”. They also wanted to know “who is [adult film actress] Sasha Grey?”, “Who is [Russian video blogger] Roma Zhilstery?”, “What are hipsters?”, “What does ‘supervisors’ mean?” and “Who is [trade union activist and first President of Chad] François Tombalbaye?”
In addition, users often asked the search engine, ‘why can’t I log into the social network site VKontakte?’, ‘why is Putin a crab?’ [note: this is based on an Internet meme; Putin said he works like a slave, which became a meme after being misprinted as crab in Russian media (the two words are similar)], ‘why did Sobchak leave Dom-2 [Russian TV show similar to Big Brother]?’ and ‘why is Wikipedia down?’ Russian internet users also wanted to know ‘why shouldn’t you sleep opposite a mirror?’, ‘why shouldn’t you celebrate your 40th birthday?’, and ‘why shouldn’t you photograph sleeping people?’ Also entering into the list of top queries were the phrases “why am I such a fool?” and “why am I shampoo?”
Comments from Lenta.ru: Форум:
Не рефлексируй, распространяй:
Nobody is interested in history, geography or physics.
Сергей: (responding to above)
But what about the Higgs boson?
Не рефлексируй, распространяй: (responding to above)
If the mass media churned out stuff about quantum immortality, say, then search results would reflect this.
Treya:
So what have the mass media published to get a high rating for the question ‘why am I shampoo?’ Advertising?
dolkina: (responding to above)
Apparently so.
Yandex users love to ask nonsense.
AVKarshakov: (responding to above)
For some reason I always ask Google these sorts of questions… I ask Yandex things like ‘Where can I buy…’ or ‘How do I get to…’
Moor:
Well, why not too long ago was one of the top searches ‘What will happen if I dump scrap into a toilet on a train going at high speed?’
Панда: (responding to above)
Yes. Humanity has unfortunately degraded(
undead: (also responding to Moor)
Well, has the answer been found? Who conducted the experiment and where have the results been published?
Панда: (responding to above)
бравый солдат Швейк:
“Why is Putin a crab”, interesting…
Злобный Гном:
“What to do if I am shampoo” LOL
“I hate it when Voldemort uses my shampoo” HAHA )
ShalfejShur:
Ovulation and bro!
Царь:
By the way, can someone explain the truth about ‘Why is Putin a crab?’ Where did this come from?
Александр: (responding to above)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpylRAHnpn0
[Note: this video is the misprinted interview with Putin where he claims to work like a slave]
iseparator.livejournal.com:
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
Hm, Yandex users are nothing but TPs.
Космический Сантехник:
Judging by these search results the mental decline of the population is not only continuing, but is rapidly hurtling forward at near-light speed pace. […]
C:
iPhone 5, Buranovskiye Babushki and why am I a fool.
I’m scared to even try to imagine the average Yandex user.
Чашка чая:
Guys, tell me the name of a good/popular movie with Sasha Grey!