The Search for Significance

While today's web-savvy consumers wants something, "new", apparently, "free" is even better. That's the conclusion of Lee Gomes, writing in today's Wall Street Journal. Last week America Online released information on web-search data from 650,000 of its customers. So the industrious Mr. Gomes took the data set -- all 2.27 gigabytes' worth, and studied how people really use the Web.

Among his findings:

Something for Nothing
Ignoring prepositions and conjunctions, the most commonly used word in the 17.15 million separate searches was "free." The next-most common word was, "new".

A Plethora of Pervs
According to a research paper about the data prepared by an AOL-led team, porn was the third most common activity of Web searchers, behind entertainment and shopping. Mr. Gomes found that 14% of all users made some form of explicit sexual search

You Want Answers?

When it comes to finding the answers to life's questions, some things are apparently better left to the unknown. 35% of those that posed a question in a search engine didn't bother to click on a single link. A random sampling indicated that those that did click on a link could expect to find a fairly accurate answer about 60% of the time.

The Truth is out There
Among the data there were 12 searches for the head of the United Nations, Kofi Annan -- 165 queries for the deceased nun, Mother Teresa -- 1,881 searches for Madonna and 3,279 attempts to find God on the Web. Lest you mistakenly assume that this represents some new found spirituality among AOL users, consider this. With 3,938 searches, more people are trying to find Britney Spears than God.