Oodles of Googles in 2014

South Africans just couldn't stop Googling Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa and his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, the search giant's Google Trends report revealed yesterday.

Meyiwa tops the list of the top 10 trending South Africa celebrities, ahead of jailbird Oscar Pistorius in second place and Khumalo in third. Popular Metro FM DJ Eddie Zondi and former Isidingo actress Lesego Motsepe, both of whom died this year, were fourth and fifth respectively.

Meyiwa died on October 26 after being shot at the home of Khumalo's mother, in Vosloorus, on the East Rand.

It was reported that Meyiwa, who was married, had fathered a love child and lied about his age.

The UK's Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that the most popular "how to" search among the people of the country' s big cities was "how to kiss".

South Africans' priority was "how to rock".

Worryingly, second on the South African "how to" search list was "how to bath". Then came "how to longboard", "how to behave" and "how to pout".

People were not put off by private messages between Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp being read in court, because they also searched "how to Whatsapp".

Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, topped the list of politicians Googled in South Africa.

Stateside, Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence was No1 on Google's list of the top-trending searches this year.

Apart from falling prey to iCloud hackers, who circulated pictures of her in the nude, she also starred in X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, which were both box-office hits.

Lawrence also won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her role in American Hustle. She was ahead of Kim Kardashian, Tracy Morgan, Ray Rice, Tony Stewart, Iggy Azalea, Donald Sterling, Adrian Peterson, Renee Zellweger and Jared Leto.

In the UK, Peaches Geldof topped the list of the most searched dead celebrities, ahead of Robin Williams, Rik Mayall, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Joan Rivers.

Top 10 general trending:

1. Senzo Meyiwa

2. Ebola

3. Robin Williams

4. Oscar Pistorius

5. World Cup 2014

6. Kelly Khumalo

7. IEC

8. Big Brother Mzansi

9. Joan Rivers

10. Michael Schumacher

Top 10 current affairs:

1. Oscar Pistorius trial

2. Ebola outbreak

3. SA national general elections

4. MH370 plane disappearance

5. Amcu strike

6. Isis

7. Numsa strike

8. Ukraine crisis

9. Nkandla report

10. 2013 matric results