THE DEATH of RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan led to his name being the most searched item in Google in Ireland in the first six months of this year, according to the internet search engine.
In the weeks following his death in April, there was a 3,750 per cent increase in searches for “Gerry Ryan”. Overall, there was a 1,150 per cent increase in searches for his name during the six months.
The musical show Glee was the second most popular search term so far this year, with a 1,050 per cent increase in searches between January and June.
There was a 700 per cent increase in searches for “World Cup 2010” for the first half of the year. And in March, searches for “Cheltenham” increased by 700 per cent.
Ryanair was the fourth most searched for item in Google over the past six months, while the impact of the volcanic ash cloud was evident in increased searches for the Irish Aviation Authority, Dublin airport, Cork airport and Irish Ferries between April and June.
The ash cloud also ranked as the top search term in Google News from January to June.
The trend towards watching television online was emphasised in the statistics from Google. The RTÉ Player service was the fifth most popular search term and the US television website TV Shack appeared in 10th place.
Searches for “YouTube music”, Facebook and Hotmail and the National Car Test were also among the 10 most searched for items over the past six months.
The fascination with genealogy was highlighted when the 1901 census was provided online and it became the fastest growing search term in Ireland in June.
