the buzz log What the world is searching for...
The Old and the Beautiful
Maybe he wasn't ready for his close-up. Or maybe people haven't seen him in a while. Whatever the reason, as soon as Prince sauntered across stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, searches on his age started a fast and furious climb up Buzz.
The long-rockin' enthusiast of purple isn't the only one to spark questions about longevity, though. Over the past month, searchers also asked "how old is keke palmer" and "how old is nat wolff." They wondered about the age of the Earth, inquired about the years of Brenda Song, and investigated Jeremy Renner's maturity. Then, just to show that the Web doesn't care if you're a lady or not, searchers demanded to know "how old is Vanna White." Let the wheel of time spin once more!
Even at Yahoo! News, where stories of war and weather dominate the headlines, searchers regularly seek the length of time individuals have logged on this Earth. Here's this week's top 10 list...
Filed under: Celebrities, Age
Flirt Like a Champion Today
Flirting can be risky business. Say the wrong thing and you'll spend the night in Lonesome Town. But if you do it right, you might end up sucking face with a beautiful stranger.
Men are traditionally more aggressive, but never underestimate a desperate woman. Indeed, when it comes to flirting, the ladies are a force to be reckoned with—they account for 56% of the searches.
In honor of the cheesy topic, we donned our tightest pants and went prowling for the top flirting searches. Break out the Binaca and take a look...
Stop and Smell the Flowers
Some people hate holidays and observances. Like the mean-spirited people who decry Black History Month, we wonder if flower-haters get their noses in a bunch over Valentine's Day?
When it comes to sending a message for this holiday, nothing seems to be as popular as the gift that keeps on smelling. Chocolate and diamonds both rank in our top 2,000 searches. But "flowers"—lovely, fragrant, and all colors of the rainbow—is currently a top-200 query.
These are not searches stemming from the anti-flower power brigade. Anyone who's helped "flower delivery" (+74%), "florists" (+77%), and "ftd" (+92%) rake in the Buzz in advance of February 14 has to a be lover of the holiday for lovers. And we thank you; for you have helped us not only stop and smell the flowers, but you've helped stem the tide of holiday hate.
Filed under: Valentine's Day, Flowers
The Top Three Super Commercials
The day after the Super Bowl is the true test for the effectiveness of Super Bowl advertising. Folks gab about what they saw, forward cool ads to friends, and dissect the quality of the commercial content. Football, schmootball. The real Monday-morning quarterbacks are the amateur ad analysts scouring the Web for their favorite spots.
The commercial grabbing the most buzz on Monday was also widely considered to be the best ad. The Blockbuster spot featuring two rodents and a computer mouse generated the most searches with "blockbuster commercial" and "blockbuster super bowl commercial" leading the way.
Munching hot on the heels of the Blockbuster blurbs were the consumer-generated commercials from Doritos. Searches on "doritos commercial" and "doritos super bowl commercial" added to the buzz created by this unique campaign.
Bringing home the bronze in buzz was tried and true Budweiser. With seven different Bud ads to choose from, curious searchers had plenty to look for. Searches on "funny budweiser commercials" and "budweiser super bowl commercials" both proved popular on the day after the game
And it wouldn't be a Super Bowl without super ad controversy. The Snickers spot featuring an inadvertent kiss between two men caused a stir in searches on "snickers commercial," "snickers," and "snickers super bowl." Many found the commercial offensive, and Snickers has quashed the entire campaign. Which means one thing—more searches for Snickers as curious folks seek out the now-cancelled spot.
Other commercial searches staking a claim the day after the game included: "kevin federline commercial," "go daddy commercial," "oprah letterman commercial," and "fedex super bowl commercial." While this year's batch of ads was widely panned, Buzz shows the right Super Bowl commercial can generate tons of searches.
Filed under: TV, Super Bowl, Ads
Cracking the Top Hacks
Hackers have always been the renegades of our wired world. This week, the security establishment has gathered at a conference in San Francisco to discuss ways to hold that renegade community at bay. While anti-hacker rhetoric gains steam among the white hats in the City, Buzz shows most hack-related searches have more to do with game mods than "Wargames."
Hacks that don't even require a computer "pwn" our top 20 list, but that's because the word "hack" has morphed. As Wikipedia notes, "the term...may be either favorable or denigrating depending on cultural context." While we don't condone illegal activity, we encourage you to study the latest in hack-based solutions...
Filed under: Hacks
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Federal Aviation Administration | 6114% |
| 2 | Colleen Shipman | 1631% |
| 3 | Astronaut | 1535% |
| 4 | William Oefelein | 878% |
| 5 | NTSB | 833% |
| 6 | Kennedy Space Center | 795% |
| 7 | Sacramento, Ca | 687% |
| 8 | Lauren Holly | 610% |
| 9 | Ozzfest | 512% |
| 10 | Anna Nicole Smith | 448% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Britney Spears | +55 | 404 |
| 2 | Super Bowl Commercials | -265 | 334 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +65 | 309 |
| 4 | Lindsay Lohan | +26 | 270 |
| 5 | Internal Revenue Service | -15 | 235 |
| 6 | Paris Hilton | -28 | 216 |
| 7 | Cameron Diaz | +36 | 189 |
| 8 | WWE | +9 | 153 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.