Muthama, how to pray, top October Google search trends

NAIROBI, KENYA; Over the past few months, Ebola, a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with a strain of Ebola virus has put the world and Kenya on high alert.

Google search trends for October reveal that many Kenyans wanted to know more about the disease, its causes, symptoms and prevention ranking ‘What is Ebola’ the top ‘What is’ search on Google.

Google Search Trends is a publicly available tool that displays relative search volume across geographies, time periods and queries.

What is love, What is Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), What is education, What is development, What is biology, What is culture, What is Illuminati and What is philosophy are the other topics that made to top 10 searches under ‘What is’ category.

Following the death of Prof. Ali Mazrui, a renowned academic professor who passed away in the United States, many Kenyans took to the web to search more about him, and he emerged the top trending person of the month. Trending Searches are those that have the highest amount of traffic on Google over a specific period.

Bishop Ben Bahati of Global Field Evangelism was the second top trending person, probably after he was involved in a grisly road accident on Nakuru-Eldoret highway. Pat Robertson, the  founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) was the third trending person. Audrey Mbugua, also trended after the High Court ordered Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to amend her name on her KCSE certificate.

Other people that made to the top trending searches were; Talib Kweli, an American hip-hop recording artist who performed in Nairobi; Machakos County Senator, Johnstone Muthama and Hannah Arendt, a theorist who got a Google Doodle during her October 14th birthday; the late Emily Ruto, daughter of Bomet Governor, Isaac Ruto; Stephen Collin, an American Actor who featured in popular television series - 7th Heaven and Revolution and Agnes Muthama, wife to Johnstone Muthama.

When it comes to general trending searches, the English Premier League topped with the match between Chelsea vs Arsenal emerging the top trending search. This was followed by Prof. Ali Mazrui, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), and Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery program, which awards permanent resident Visas annually to natives of countries deemed to have low rates of immigration to the US. DV Lottery opened Visa applications on October 1 and will close on November 3, 2014. Windows 10, the latest operating system by Microsoft alongside a new getaway leisure park on the slopes of Mount Kenya, Chaka Ranch also joined the list of trending searches. Mashujaa day, Big Brother Hotshots were also on the list.

Overall, Arsenal emerged the most searched item on Google. Music download sites Tubidy and Waptrick followed as top ranked searches. Chelsea came in number four in this category followed by Sportpesa, a sports betting site and Manchester United. OLX Kenya, a classifieds site, English Premier League (EPL), Government Human Resource Information System (GHRIS) and Kenya Revenue Authority were also searched during the month.

How to kiss and how to pray, How to swim were the top three ‘How to’ searches in October. How to romance, How to dance, How to massage, How to twerk, How to love, How to hack and How to drive followed respectively.

Top Trending People Searches

1.       Ali Mazrui

2.       Bishop Ben Bahati

3.       Pat Robertson

4.       Audrey Mbugua

5.       Talib Kweli

6.       Johnstone Muthama

7.       Hannah Arendt

8.       Emily Ruto

9.       Stephen Collins

10.    Agnes Muthama

 

Top Trending Searches

1.       Chelsea Vs Arsenal

2.       Ali Mazrui

3.       KEPSA

4.       DV Lottery

5.       Windows 10

6.       Chaka Ranch

7.       Mashujaa Day

8.       Bishop Ben Bahati

9.       John Holt

10.    Big Brother Hotshots

 

Top “What is” searches

1.       What is ebola

2.       What is love

3.       What is communication

4.       What is ISIS

5.       What is education

6.       What is development

7.       What is biology

8.       What is culture

9.       What is illuminati

10.    What is philosophy

 

Top “How to” searches

1.       How to kiss

2.       How to pray

3.       How to swim

4.       How to romance

5.       How to dance

6.       How to massage

7.       How to twerk

8.       How to love

9.       How to hack

10.    How to drive

 

Top 10 searches

1.       Arsenal

2.       Tubidy

3.       Waptrick

4.       Chelsea

5.       Sportpesa

6.       Manchester United

7.       OLX Kenya

8.       English Premier League

9.       Government Human Resource Information System (GHRIS)

10.    Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)