One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
What Los Angeles Was Obsessed With In 2014, According To Google
In 2014, we wondered how to detox. The writing was on the wall. (Photo by cyan79 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
Google just released their entertaining annual search trends, and as always, they broke it down by city.
Usually there are a lot of no-brainers: like the rest of the U.S., a lot of Angelenos googled the World Cup, notable deaths like Robin Williams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, notable panics over Ebola and Renee Zellweger's face and, of course, the latest iPhone model. The ice bucket challenge had us searching for "what is ALS," and #gamergate got quite a bit of traction.
One big local story that bubbled up into search results was our resident local racist "Donald Sterling". Angelenos were also way more into the Blood Moon than everyone else.
But where Los Angeles search results really shined, if you had to ask us, is the "how to" section. We wanted to know "how to surf," "how to detox" (a thoroughly Angeleno but also thoroughly bullshit idea) and "how to deadlift" (crossfitters: we see you!) Some of the search results that made us think there were a lot of young ones (or young ones at heart) googling include "how to kiss" and "what is magcon."
Here are the searches:
Top trending searches
World Cup
Robin Williams
iPhone 6
Malaysia Airlines
Philip Seymour Hoffman
ebola
Tracy Morgan
Jennifer Lawrence
Donald Sterling
Iggy Azalea
Top trending events/news
World Cup
malaysia airlines
ebola
black Friday 2014
nfl draft
Oscars 2014
ALS
coachella 2014
olympics
Blood Moon
Sponsored message
Top people
Robin Williams
Philip seymour hoffman
Tracy Morgan
jennifer lawrence
donald sterling
Iggy Azalea
maya angelou
Ray Rice
Carmelo Anthony
Renee Zellweger
"What is" searches
what is ebola
what is als
what is isis
what is bitcoin
what is magcon
what is airdrop
what is whatsapp
what is wcw
what is uber
what is gamergate
"How to" searches
how to surf
how to detox
how to kiss
how to knit
how to memorize
how to shave
how to sing
how to dance
how to deadlift
how to invest
Here are the searches from 2013, 2012, 2010 and 2009.
And you can compare what we searched to NYC, San Francisco and DC.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
