Trends: What Africa searched for online in 2014

EBOLA was the recurring web search term in 2014 in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Uganda, search engine Google reported in its 2014 trends report.

The deaths of prominent people such as motivational speaker and evangelist Myles Munroe also led to big spikes, the rankings show.

But apart from this search consensus there was as expected a lot of disaggregation in individual countries. We take a look at the leading searches:

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Nigeria 

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The African Cup of Nations—which Nigeria won —was the most searched event while celebrity artistes Davido, Phyno and Tiwa Savage topped the music category.
The death of evangelist Myles Munroe led to his ranking as the most searched person this year. He was followed by searches for popular gospel singer Kefee Oareki who died in June. Renowned government administrator, former minister and pharmacist Dora Akunyili also featured prominently in searches for individuals. She passed on in June.
Nigerians also frequently looked up the iPhone 6, while Nollywood-linked searches saw filmmaker Amaka Igwe, who died in April, and producers Emem Isong and Charles Novia among the most looked for.
Popular blogger Linda Ikeji was not left out, as did searches for information on messaging app Whatsapp and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai.

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South Africa

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Oscar Pistorius, Senzo Meyiwa and Kelly Khumalo were the most searched for people in the country, while politicians Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma also topped rankings in a year that saw the country hold general elections.
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 also made it to the rankings, as did the miners strike by members of the AMCU and NUMSA unions.
Popular Metro FM DJ Eddie Zondi, who died in June, was also frequently searched for, as was popular actress Lesego Motsepe, who passed on in January. 

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Kenya

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Free classifieds site OLX was among the most searched for in Kenya, as did information about the 2014 World Cup and the popular English premier league.
Users also hungrily sought out information about higher institutions of learning, government jobs and Ebola.
Kenyan socialite Vera Sidika, who made headlines due to her voluptuous body and later “improvements” on it was the most searched for person, topping senator Otieno Kajwang who died in November, and the Manchester United footballer Angel di Maria. 
The death of Myles Munroe also made the cut as did that of America actor Robin Williams.

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Egypt

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The presidential election topped many Egyptian searches, as did the winner of the ballot Abdel Fattah el-Sidi. The trial of former long time leader Hosni Mubarak was also frequently monitored online.
The World Cup, Ramadan, belly dancer Safinaz and fallen television and film star Khaled Saleh alsowere among the most searched for.

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Ghana

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Ghanaians were glued to events surrounding the disappearance of popular rapper Castro, and the death of BBC anchor Komla Dumor, who died in January. The passing on of Myles Munroe also registered prominently on search boxes in the West African country.
The World Cup, the launch of the iPhone 6,  Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria and Robin Williams also weighed in on the list.
Artistes Naa Ashorkor, Sarkodie, Chris Attoh and Shatta Wale also topped searches for celebrities. 

Source:  http://m.mgafrica.com/article/2014-12-17-trends-what-africa-searched-for-online-in-2014#.VMtmdzdS5AY