Polony, football and The Oscars: SA’s biggest Google searches this week

According to internet giant Google, polony, football and The Oscars were the most searched-for subjects in South Africa this week.

Taking a break from land reclamation and President Ramaphosa’s fitness regime, netizens turned to sport. The Soweto Derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates saw more than 100 000 searches on Saturday alone. Notably, that’s more than five times the volume Google saw for any other term on the day.

But football played second fiddle to polony as the week broke, and after the source of the listeriosis outbreak which has left more than 180 people in South Africa dead was revealed.

According to Google, the announcement “saw searches for “Listeriosis” (200 000+) and “Listeriosis Symptoms” (100 000+ searches) spike” on Sunday. This was more than double the searches seen for “The Oscars” on the same day. “Polony” itself however saw over 20 000 searches on Monday.

Other search notable search terms included other football-related searches; Crystal Palace vs Man United, and PSG vs Real Madrid were two high-profile matches contributing to search traffic.

International Women’s Day also saw a more than 50 000 searches this week, with the day itself commemorated on Thursday.

Feature image: congerdesign via Pixabay (CC0)