Top Bing Searches in 2011: Bieber, Kardashian & Royal Wedding

Bing has released a list of the top searches in 2011. Bing's recap, while far more comprehensive than the 2010 edition, mainly focuses on entertainment and celebrities. In that sense, Bing’s top searches lists do serve as a sort of barometer of the collective interests of people in the U.S. over the course of the last year.

So what was on your mind?

Bing’s Most Searched People in 2011

Justin Bieber knocked Kim Kardashian off her throne as most searched person. Six of the top 10 most searched people in 2010 fell off this year’s list: Sandra Bullock, Jesse James, Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, and Kate Gosselin.

Newcomers to the list include Jennifer Lopez, who didn’t break the top 50 last year, but found herself in fifth this time around. Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, and Miley Cyrus also made the top 10.

In Sports searches, the most searched stars were:

1. Maria Sharapova 
2. Tiger Woods 
3. Serena Williams (sorry, Venus) 
4. Brett Favre 
5. Caroline Wozniacki

The most searched Musicians list might shed a little light into just who uses Bing; the 13- to 18-year-old female demographic seems to reign supreme, if this list is any indication:

1. Justin Bieber 
2. Katy Perry 
3. Jennifer Lopez 
4. Britney Spears 
5. Lady Gaga 
6. Selena Gomez 
7. Nicki Minaj 
8. Rihanna 
9. Beyonce 
10. Taylor Swift

Top News Events in 2011

Surely there was more going in 2011 than Beiber Fever and Gaga’s Monsters stalking her every move online. The top news story searches of 2011 show which natural disasters, legal trials, and deaths captured the attention of the American masses:

1. Casey Anthony trial 
2. Osama bin Laden death 
3. Hurricane Irene 
4. Japan Earthquake/Tsunami 
5. Amy Winehouse death 
6. Joplin tornado 
7. Michael Jackson trial/Conrad Murray 
8. 9/11 10 year anniversary 
9. Republican Candidates - Herman Cain, Rick Perry 
10. Haiti anniversary

Most Searched Destinations and Consumer Electronics in 2011

What catalog of society’s consciousness would be complete without knowing which toys we prefer to spend our money on? (Or simply speculate about, since the iPhone 5 made the list and it doesn’t exist yet.) Here are the most searched consumer electronics:

1. Xbox 
2. Kindle 
3. Playstation 
4. iPhone 5 
5. iPad 
6. Wii 
7. iPad 2 
8. Nook 
9. Windows Phone 7 
10. Macbook Pro

Las Vegas topped the list as the most searched destination in the world. In Asia, Singapore was most searched, and in Europe, it was Paris, France.

More Top Searches: Suri Cruise, Rebecca Black, the YMCA, Bankruptcy

Rebecca Black’s “Friday” video took top honors as the most searched viral video of 2011, even beating out Adele by a healthy 34 percent. What’s that? You can’t get enough of it? Sigh... alright.

You’re welcome.

Suri Cruise beat down all of the other celebrity kids on the playground, stole their lunch money, and kicked sand at them on her way out... she was searched three times as often as the next most popular celebrity spawn, Malia and Sasha Obama.

Not surprisingly, “bankruptcy” and “selling a home” were the most searched economic terms of 2011. Americans still had charity on their minds, as the YMCA, American Red Cross, and Lance Armstrong Foundation topped the list for most searched charitable causes.

The Royal Wedding was by far the most searched celebrity event of 2011, though Kate Middleton stole much of her new hubby’s thunder. She was 12th on the most searched people list, but Prince William didn’t even crack the top 100. Searches for the real Royal Wedding outnumbered Kim Kardashian’s fake one by four to one.

Other categories covered in Bing’s 2011 top searches lists include Most Searched Movies (“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”), Morning Shows (“Today Show”), Daytime Talk Shows (Wendy Williams), Late Night Shows (Chelsea Handler), Reality TV Shows ("American Idol"), and regular old TV Shows (also “American Idol”). Noticeably absent categories, topics, or terms in a year dominated by celebrity and material obsession: Books, Employment, Education, and Being a Better Person.

I worry about us.

Bing’s Top Searches of 2011 Video

Not to be outdone by Google, who released their first annual search summary video last year, Bing led their posted lists with the following video:

Google Maps for Android Adds Indoor Mall, Airport, Store Maps

If your Android is set to auto-update your apps, you might have missed the new version of Google Maps. With it come two primary new features: indoor maps and a new UI.

Similar to the newly announced UI changes to Google properties, Google Maps now has a new navigation menu giving quick, one-touch access to Google Places, Check-in, Latitude and other features. Previously these features were available by selecting the "more" option after pressing the Menu button on your device. This new menu has a slight hint of Honeycomb and may possibly be a peak at some of new UI choices presented in future versions of Android.

The more noticeable feature, however, is the new indoor maps. Bing Maps has offering indoor mall maps for the past year, the feature was initially only available in a desktop browser until August when Bing's indoor maps went mobile. Bing also introduced airport maps in September.

Not to be outdone, Google Maps has added malls, airports, and many other locations. These indoor maps are available by simply pinch-zooming in your Google Maps mobile app.

Buildings with multiple levels have icons indicating which level's floor plan you would like the map to show. If your GPS is on, the familiar blue dot will show your location for easy navigation within the building.

Here’s a screen captures from Google Maps before and after the indoor maps option for both Mall of America…

And the San Francisco International Airport

To start, Google has hit up some of the largest retailers, airports and other transit stations in both the United States and Japan. Google offers a list of indoor map locations in their help area. If you want add your floor plan to be mapped out too, Google even provides a simple four-step process to make it happen.

Google has also created an interactive tutorial and walkthrough of the new Google Maps features.

What are your thoughts on the new features? Will you submit your organization's blueprints to be indexed by Google for the world to see? Let us know and share your comments below.