Are We Having Fun Yet?: Yahoo's Top 10 Reasons You Should Care

     I'll admit it. The excitement here at Steve Bauer Media is palpable. We're all atwitter because Yahoo just released it's list of "Top 10 Searches" for 2010. And The List says a lot about the world we live in. The giant search machine claims 631 million people used its service- making billions of searches. Drum roll please.

     Not surprisingly, you and/or your firm's name are not on this list. Unless you work for BP. Yahoo says this year's most searched term was "BP Oil Spill". There's a classic lesson in bad PR. On the other hand, BP is #1! You could argue that any publicity is good publicity- as long as they spell your name right. B-P, Got it.

     On the other hand, the #2 spot goes to "World Cup" a stunning PR success for South Africa, Soccer, and the makers of those awful vuvuzela horns.

     But here's where it gets interesting;
3) Teen Singer 'Miley Cyrus'
4) Reality Show Royalty 'Kim Kardashian'
5) Pop Princess 'Lady Gaga'
7) Actress 'Megan Fox'
8) Boy Toy 'Justin Bieber'
9) American Idol
10) Britney Spears

     Lost in the sea of entertainment luminaries is #6- the iPhone. We'll dial up the iPhone in a sec. So what does this top 10 search list tell us about America? We're apparently very interested in young pop stars/entertainers. This suggests that most Yahoo users are also young pop star/entertainment-crazed internet users. You might recall that a few years back Britney Spears was a perennial #1 on Yahoo's list. Now that she's getting older Britney has plummeted to #10. So if I'm selling Geritol (you kids will have to ask your parents) I'd stay with Lawrence Welk reruns. If I'm selling Red Bull (the 2010 version of Geritol) Yahoo might be a great place to use your PR/marketing dollars.

     Which brings us back to #6, the iPhone. That's not a big surprise. I mean, what do you think these young people are using to search Yahoo? Still, I am surprised the iPad, iMac and iNausea aren't also on the list. Steve Jobs seems to be a one-man marketing machine. So if you want to target the youth/tech market, developing an iPhone "app" for your product or service might be a really good (cost efficient) way to reach your audience.

     So what is the take away from all this? Despite all the polls and surveys reporting that record numbers of older people are using the internet, I'm a little skeptical. Sure, Grandma is finally learning to send e-mail. And in some cases she's even on Facebook. But Twitter? Not so much. I'll bet the vast majority of internet users skew towards the 30-and-under set. Just saying.

     Another thing I'm just saying. How come Yahoo users care more about teen singers than they do about the real world? I said real world, not reality world. My guess? Younger people want to feel good- not depressed. Otherwise, Yahoo's list would look like this.

1) Wall Street Bailouts
2) Unemployment
3) Budget Deficit
4) 2010 Elections
5)Global Warming
6) Afghanistan War
7) Sarah Palin
8) North Korea
9) Gays in Military
10) Immigration

     Pass the Geritol. Lady Gaga is looking better by the minute.

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Are We Having Fun Yet?

Friday, December 3, 2010

Yahoo's Top 10 Reasons You Should Care

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