The Game of Thrones Starbucks cup debacle . WatchingNotre Damego up in flame . The moment the world fall in love withBaby Yoda . work through Google ’s top search of the twelvemonth feel like flipping through a scrapbook of the internet ’s corporate fixation . exhaust this week , the company ’s annual “ Year in Search ” gives a snapshot of the most impactful celebrities , news show , and trends of 2019 — at least , in terms of Google searches — and this year ’s data point illustrate one fact very clearly : After its first full calendar twelvemonth in America , TikTok has become the newfangled progenitor of meme .
The music app ’s influence can even be see at the international grade in this twelvemonth ’s most explore Sung dynasty , “ Old Town Road ” by Lil Nas X. Before it became the longest - running # 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for six Grammys , 100 of G of userswere dancing to the attention-getting nation - rap mashup in TikTok videos , avail to propel it to virality .
tocopherol - lady friend and e - son , a scene - acculturation - breathe in take on the iconic Instagram influencer that ’s aboriginal to TikTok , came in as the second and third top mode search . It ’s a subculture that flirts the line between wry exaggeration of internet celebrity and genuine fashion tendency among the youth . Either way , the normal behind this e - lady friend style — dyed hairsbreadth , sheer heart makeup , cutesy punk wear — is so routinely mocked as cookie - cutting tool that the concept was partially popularized by a meme about a mythologic “ due east - girl factory ” that churns them out .
Photo: Leon Neal (Getty)
And , of course , it would n’t be 2019 without VSCO girls making an appearance . If that just sounds like gibberish to you , you ’re emphatically not alone : VSCO was a top search across three different categories , and “ What is a VSCO lady friend ” was one of this year ’s most searched questions . make after a democratic photo - cut app , VSCO girls are Gen - Z ’s entry into the Granville Stanley Hall of ubiquitous high school stereotype — you roll in the hay : your suspensor , your geeks , etc . They ’re identifiable by their HydroFlask water bottle , puka shell necklaces , and scrunch , they routinely spout meme - y catchphrases like “ sksksk ” and “ and I oop , ” and you ’ll discover no end to video recording mocking this imitation on Tiktok .
Since its debut in August 2018 , TikTok has been downloaded 1.5 billion times , pip it to the top of app charts and , apparently , Google explore too . Per aBusiness Insider report , the unforesightful - form video app is now even beginning to rival other seasoned societal media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat , which have 2.4 billion downloads and 1.4 billion downloads respectively , according to analytics firm SensorTower . And it ’s that same kind of rapid growth that ’s alsoattracted plenty of attentionfrom theUnited state of matter governmentregarding how TikTok handles data point from minors and its relationship with its parent company , the Beijing - based ByteDance , and the Chinese government at large .
https://gizmodo.com/tiktok-sued-over-claims-that-app-tracked-collected-an-1840181819
As for other tech , the recently releasediPhone 11was the only gadget to break the top ten Google lookup of 2019 , evidence Apple carry on to overtop the cultural zeitgeist no matter how many smartphones make out onto the market . Though Disney ’s consecrate streaming service , Disney+ , managed to top the charts in Americadespite its shaky launching . No other streaming avail even crack the list , despiteApple TV+also debut this yr and NBC ’s Peacock and HBO Max generating plenty of buzz ahead of their 2020 launches , which make believe things look reasonably favorable for Disney hold its own in the so - call “ streaming war . ” Though I ’ll admit the House of Mouse had an ace up its sleeve with Baby Yoda , the breakout star of Disney’s$100 millionStar Wars series The Mandalorian exclusive to Disney+ . Google ’s yearend statistic reflect as much too : Baby Yoda was this year ’s most - searched sister ( because , yes , that is a family for some intellect ) , thus mystify out celebrity spawn from the likes of Cardi B , Kim Kardashian , and actual royal line .
Because 2019 was also the year of crap meme into reality , the countrywide mania over Area 51 reflected in Google ’s year - end results as well , with the term making the top-1o leaning across four different categories , including top news search . While the trick Facebook event “ Storm Area 51 , They Ca n’t Stop All of Us ” get millions of pledges over the course of last summer , the actual effect only attractedabout 100 hoi polloi , which mycolleague Jennings Browndescribed as a “ motley assortment of believers , seekers , and enthusiastic teenagers who descended on a lonely stretch of desert to make their meme dream real . ” And against all odds , they somehow managed to debar becoming this year’sFyre Festivalfiasco .
What I found most interesting about Google ’s “ Year in Search ” is its list of most - searched motion , which seem to chronicle what everyone was talking about at any devote fourth dimension in 2019 . Questions like “ What is quid pro quo ” ( and why wo n’t the president close up about it ) , “ What is a boomer , ” “ What is Bird Box about , ” and — now this one I consider we can all harmonize to leave in 2019—“What is momo . ”
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