Now, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, but Google knows what you’re up to online. Their tracking of our online activities is unsurpassed and only complemented by the services we’re drawn to. So they really do know what you watched and searched for last summer.

When it comes to our watching habits on YouTube, there are a number of genres tracked:

  • Trending Videos
  • Musiv Videos
  • Top Creators
  • Breakout and “Shorts” creators

If you’re just a casual user of YouTube then perhaps it’s time to get more serious about your viewing. Check out some of the links in the YouTube Australian trending videos blog for some excellent entertainment.

While viewing habits can be interesting, it’s often far more of an insight into community mindset to look at search history. This year our searches have been dominated by:

  • Sports and entertainment
  • Activities such as arts, crafts and cooking
  • News relating to the pandemic

In a recent blog post, the Google Australia team outline in more detail the types of searches we’ve made concerning local COVID-19 news:

As we navigated new seasons and surges of the pandemic, we searched to stay across outbreaks in NSW, Queensland and Victoria. We looked to book in for vaccines, get our vaccination certificates – and find the meaning of Omicron. We also showed our savvy and scientific curiosity, searching ‘how to make a face mask’ and interestingly, ‘how to make oxygen.

The pandemic isn’t over, but 2021 is very close to it. Let’s all hope that 2022 is easier on us all physically, socially and mentally.