Robin Williams was the most popular Google search term of 2014
What else was the United States interested in finding out about? The World Cup, Ebola and Apple's Airdrop also topped Google's list.
What a difference a year makes.
In 2014, "how to Airdrop" was the top trending phrase (beginning with the words "how to) searched on Google in the US. That refers to the method of wirelessly sharing files between nearby Apple devices.
Last year, the top "how to" request was "how to twerk" -- a type of dance that exploded in the pop cultural lexicon after singer Miley Cyrus twerked her way into our living rooms during an MTV awards show.
That's according to Google, which released a report Tuesday on the top trending terms of the year. Those search terms had the highest spike of traffic over a certain period of time in 2014, as compared with the year earlier.
The top trending term overall was "Robin Williams," after the well-known and popular comedian died in August. No. 2 was "World Cup," the global soccer tournament held in Brazil in June. Third on the list was "Ebola," the highly contagious virus. Google last week released a list of the top YouTube videos of the year. A clip of a dog wearing a spider costume led the pack.
Google is the world's largest search engine. In the US, the company captured a 67 percent share of the search market in October, while its closest competitor, Microsoft's Bing search service, held a nearly 20 percent share, according to ComScore.
The top Google searches give us a glimpse of what was on the minds of Americans over the past year.
Top Trending Searches (US):
Robin Williams
World Cup
Ebola
Malaysia Airlines
Flappy Bird
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
ISIS
Ferguson
Frozen
Ukraine
Top Trending "What is...?" Questions (US):
What is Ebola?
What is ALS?
What is ISIS?
What is Bitcoin?
What is Asphyxia?
What is Gamergate?
What is WhatsApp?
What is MERS?
What is Hamas?
What is Airdrop?
Top Trending "How to...?" Questions (US):
How to Airdrop?
How to contour?
How to vote?
How to kiss?
How to craft?
How to colorblock?
How to wakeboard?
How to refurbish?
How to delegate?
How to DIY?