Statistics released by Google on Wednesday show that European football, pandemic advice and the footwear options for convicted criminals top the stories that trended most in Nigeria for the month of August.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, communications and Public Affairs Manager for Google West Africa, disclosed this in a statement released on Wednesday, in Lagos.
Kola-Ogunlade, noted that the 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona by Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League on 14 August, led the search trend over the past month.
According to him, “the Estádio da Luz might have been empty for Bayern Munich’s 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League on 14 August, but that didn’t mean there was any less attention paid to it online. In fact, the fixture was the top search in Nigeria over the past month.
“The match was extraordinary and saw several records being broken. For instance, Bayern beat their own record of 36 minutes, set against Porto in the 2014/15 quarter-final second leg, for the fastest a team has ever scored four goals in a Champions League knockout match.
“It was also the first time Barcelona had conceded more than five goals in a Champions League knockout game since 1976.
“Of course, the reason the stadium had no spectators -- limiting the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic -- remains top of mind too. “COVID-19 prevention” was the second-most searched term for the month.
“To date, there have been more than 54 000 confirmed cases in Nigeria, with just over 1 000 confirmed deaths”.
He further stated that the most esoteric among the top searches for August was undoubtedly “prison slippers”.
He said that the search trended after Nigerians were called out for paying more than 21 000 Naira for Yeezy Slides, the slippers created by rap mogul Kanye West.
The communications manager, however, revealed that the trend began when local bloggers to realised that the Yeezy Slides looked remarkably similar to prison slippers, thereby sparking a huge trend on whether it worth the money or not.
“Another notable trending topic included “waec 2020 timetable”. This year’s timetable for the important secondary school certificate exams courted controversy, with a number of examinations clashing with Friday Jumu’ah prayers, leading to claims that it was anti-Muslim.
“Other trending terms included “buruji kashamu”(following the politician’s death on 8 August), various football fixtures, and “burna boy twice as tall”.
“When it comes to the top questions for the month, financial affairs won out, with “how to make money online” the top search.
“It was followed by “when is school returning” in second and “when is school resuming in Nigeria” in fifth, suggesting that there might be some frustrated parents out there.
“Baking remains a trend, with “how to make pancakes” and “how to make a cake” among the most asked questions.
“At a deeper level, “who is the world best man” was an interesting feature among the most asked questions for the month.
“We’re not sure even Google can provide a definitive answer to that one though,” he concluded.
He added Search interest is plotted on an index of 0 - 100 and that anything over 40 indicates high levels of search interest relative to other terms being searched at the time.
