KUALA LUMPUR: Through every Year in Search, Google reveals the Internet's spirit of the times through an exploration of the over one trillion search queries and the top trending searches. Google's 2021 Year in Search for Malaysia gives us a glimpse into the moments, people, topics, events, and places that Malaysians cared about this year.
"Search helps us find information and the way Malaysians use Search can be a window into the world. Malaysia's 2021 Year in Search gives us a look into how we're recovering as a nation. While Covid-19 is still top of mind, the focus has shifted towards vaccination and resuming business operations; financial aid remains a strong theme as Malaysians seek help; digital learning search terms spiked this year as Malaysians adapted to online learning and we continued to search for ways to be connected and entertained through TV shows and sports," said Google Malaysia's communications manager, Nadia Khan.
During the virtual event held on Google Meet platform, Nadia shared this year's top trending searches list as a number of searches on financial aid and incentives making it into the Top 10 - in fact, they make up half of the list with 'i-Sinar' being the number one trending term for 2021, followed by 'i-Citra', 'Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat', 'i-Akaun' and 'Bantuan Prihatin Nasional'.
The rest of the terms on the list are a mix of entertainment and sports - 'Euro 2021', 'Popcat', 'English Premier League', and 'Squid Game'. 'Google Meet' also makes it onto the list at seventh place as video conferencing became a big part of daily life.
MALAYSIANS LOVE FEEL-GOOD CONTENT
Malaysians continue to enjoy feel-good content. 2021 brought more sporting events—from Euro 2021 to the Sudirman Cup 2021 and of course Olympics 2020 summer games, which was held this year after it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic which halted many events. Football staples such as the English Premier League, Copa America, UEFA Champions League as well as Liga Super also made the Top 10 most searched list under the sports category.
While 2020 was a year where people were trying to understand the virus and its impact, according to Nadia, the 2021 search terms shows a shift from the term coronavirus towards vaccinations and resuming business operations with the top trending terms for this category are CIMS 3.0, 'Covid Vaccine Near Me', as well as 'Covid-19 Malaysia'.
Searches like 'Semakan Vaksin', AstraZeneca Vaccine, COVIDNOW, and Sinovac Vaccine were also highlighted as Malaysians turned to Search to learn more about the different vaccines being offered and how it was impacting our recovery statistics.
While it is not unusual for people to trend, this year was unique in that there was a spike in searches for athletes.
Athletes like Lee Zii Jia and Azizulhasni Awang took top spots in this trending list. Malaysians were also curious to know more about Christian Eriksen's momentary collapse during Denmark's Euro 2020 opener against Finland and Britain's Tom Daley knitting in between diving events at the Tokyo Olympics.
EDUCATION IN SEARCH
Education is a theme that's certainly important in 2021. 2020 was a catalyst to rapidly transitioning physical classes into home-based teaching and learning on a global scale but this year, searches spiked for digital learning tools as Malaysians sought creative ways to make lessons engaging.
Education is a search theme unique to 2021 as it points to show Malaysians' adapting to digital learning tools as well as to make the remote classroom experience engaging as term such as Blooket, a tool which makes trivia and review in the classroom fun; Wordwall, a fresh resource to help teachers create custom classroom activities; and ClassPoint, a tool to create interactive quizzes to improve engagement and learning outcomes.
'Google Classroom' took the first spot and 'DELIMa KPM' came in third for most searched items under the education category.
In addition to showcasing what people were curious about in Malaysia, Google Search tools also offer insights into which topics captured the entire world's attention in 2021. Visit the global trends site to explore the rest of this year's Year in Search stories and top trending charts from Malaysia and around the world.
For a look at the full list and other trending categories - entertainment, financial aid, topical news, and 'how' questions as searched by Malaysia visit g.co/2021trends/MY.