Fifa World Cup 2018 held in Russia was the top trending Google search in Uganda this year, 2018, followed by Virtual Private Network (VPN).
The World Cup, which was full of surprises as teams, which were considered the best were sent home in the early stages of the tournament, hit its peak between June 24 and June 30th.
According to Google trends, Western region had the highest portion of searches, followed by Eastern, Northern and Central, with majority searching for World Cup fixtures.
A screen grab of the top trends
Virtual Private Network
The Topic Virtual Private Network was most searched on July 1, 2018; the day Social Media tax came into force.
With the introduction of social media tax, Ugandans were required to pay Shs200 a day to use popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp, among others.
VPN hit the maximum value (100) on July 1 at 1am – just an hour after the Internet Service Providers switched off the social media platforms.
VPNs allow users to secretly access a network and share data remotely through public networks. VPN masks the user’s exact location and evades the blockage.
Among the most searched VPNs were; Proxy server, Psiphon, BtoB VPN, and uptodown.
2019
The year 2019, is third on the chart. Turns out Ugandans are always on the look out for what is next. But under the topic 2019, Kyambogo University was the most popular search, with top searches being about admission lists. Others were Salary, Salary structure, education and Canada.
The late Mowzey Radio. FILE PHOTO
Mowzey Radio (RIP)
Ugandan Musician Moses Ssekibogo, best known as Mowzey Radio was the fifth top search, after he died following a bar brawl.
Radio died on February 1, at Case Hospital in Kampala where he had been admitted after reportedly being beaten into coma following a fight at De Bar, a local hangout spot in Entebbe, late January.
His song Tambula Nange was the most popular query under the topic Radio.
Musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi, commonly known as Bobi Wine, sings on stage in Busabala, suburb of Kampala, Uganda, on November 10, 2018. Thousands of Ugandans thronged a lakeside recreation ground to attend the long awaited first music concert of the politician after previous attempts were blocked by the Ugandan police.
Isaac KASAMANI / AFP
Bobi Wine
The topic weather came sixth, followed by Bobi Wine at number 7, after his arrest in Arua.
The Kyadondo East MP was arrested on August 13, after his driver was shot dead in Arua Municipality at end of the campaigns of the by-election. This sparked a hike in the searches for the topic Bobi Wine between August 19 and 25th.
King Saha
King Saha
Since Mowzey radio died on February 1st, many believed King Saha would be his perfect replacement in the music duo- Radio and Weasel. This was especially after Saha dropped songs like Biri biri and Mpa Love a collabo featuring Weasel. This is probably why is number eight on Uganda’s top trends.
This graph shows interest in particular topics per subregion
Top 20
- 2018 World Cup
- Virtual private network
- 2019
- World Cup
- Radio
- Weather
- Bobi Wine
- King Saha
- Juventus F.C.
- Top level domain
- Goodlyfe Crew
- Music download
- Diamond Platnumz
- Betway
- Sheebah Karungi
- Student
- Jumia
- Wine
- Chameleone
- Betting strategy