Young Ghanaians Use Google to Find Out Exam Results

Accra, 1st September: Today, Google Ghana announced its second monthly internet search trends results. It reveals that August’s fastest rising Google searches in Ghana included ‘BECE’ (Basic Education Certificate) results and ‘WAEC’ (West African Examinations Council), as thousands of young Ghanaians and their parents logged on in anticipation of their exam results.

Google “Zeitgeist” explores the billions of search queries received by Google each month and highlights the top trends. The fastest rising searches during the past month reflect Ghana’s increasing move towards e-learning and ICT in schools. ‘Big Brother Africa’ also saw a surge in searches this month: the reality TV show as popular as ever as it enters its sixth week.

Ghana’s top ten fastest rising-queries for August also include Manchester United, showing that the British premier league is keeping football fans engaged after the World Cup lull. Opera Mini and Youtube downloader also feature, reflecting Ghana’s online citizens are closely following exciting developments in the digital landscape.

Commenting on this month’s result, Estelle Akofio-Sowah of Google Ghana, said, “It’s great to see public bodies like WAEC providing exam results online. The sheer number of searches on the topic demonstrates the great demand for online resources in Ghana. Young people receiving their exam results this month will find that the internet will become increasingly important as they continue their education and enter the job market. I wish all students the very best with their exam results!”

The graph below illustrates the surge in search for ‘BECE’ in Ghana on August 3rd when exam results were officially published. The next graph shows how the number of searches for BECE has increased since 2004. It demonstrates that results first became available online in 2005 with spikes in interest each and every August around publication of the results. Most interesting, however, is the huge peak in searches in 2010 with number of inquiries surging to four times that of 2005.

Anyone can use Insights for search to come up with their own rankings by visiting http://google.com/insights/search/ and Trends http://www.google.com/trends

ENDS

Zeitgeist Explained

Google reveals the internet “Zeitgeist” (German for “the spirit of the times”) through an exploration of the billions of search queries we receive each year. In addition to the month-end Zeitgeist, which highlights the top trends of the month, Google also has several tools that give insight into global, regional, past and present search trends. Google Zeitgeist tools can never be used to identify individual users because we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur over time. These tools are available year-round for you to play with, explore, and learn from: www.google.com/zeitgeist

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com and our Google Africa Blog: google-africa.blogspot.com. You can also follow Google’s Africa team on Twitter: twitter.com/googleafrica

Source: Azim Datardina