Google is not just the world’s best source of information, it’s also a window into what people all over the world want to know more about at any given time. As such, Google’s end of the year lists of the top search terms can give you pretty good insight into what people all over the world were thinking about this year.
So what was on the minds of Indonesians in 2015? According to Google, mostly gemstones, motorcycle taxis and cute, tiny cakes.
The number one uniquely Indonesian search this year was “batu akik”, an Indonesian slang word for gemstones and also one of the craziest trends of this year. The Indonesian people’s obsession with batu akik flared up and created a hugely inflated market for the geological gems before the bottom dropped out and folks who had made a quick fortune on batu akik were suddenly forced to find other ways to make money.
The second most popular search term in Indonesia was for motorcycle taxi hailing app Go-Jek, which exploded in popularity when it released its smartphone app at the beginning of this year. It’s hard to imagine that Go-Jek has only been big for a year, considering how ubiquitous their green-jacketed drivers have become in Jakarta.
The third most popular Indonesian search term of 2015 was “kue cubit” (pinch cakes) which was definitely one of the hottest food trends of the year. Savvy F&B entrepreneurs reinvigorated the public’s love for these tiny cakes from their childhoods by adding trendy flavors like green tea and red velvet into the mix. Nowaday you can find these nouveau “kue cubit” in just about every food court in Jakarta, but we doubt their trendiness will last into 2016.
Other search terms in the top 10 were a little more serious. At number 4 is “Angeline”, the name of an 8-year-old girl who was murdered in Bali and whose tragic tale broke hearts all over Indonesia. Olga Syahputra, the popular comedian who died back in March, was the 5th most popular search term, while #8 was “Tragedi Mina”, referring to the tragic stampede that took place during this year’s Hajj that killed an estimated 1,453 people including an estimated 57 Indonesian pilgrims.
Here’s the complete list of Google’s top 10 Indonesian search terms for 2015. You can find a lot more data on the top searches in different categories on the Google Trend page for Indonesia.
1. Batu Akik
2. GO-JEK
3. Kue Cubit
4. Angeline
5. Olga Syahputra
6. Dubsmash
7. Fast Furious 7
8. Tragedi Mina
9. Goyang Dumang
10. Piala Presiden
