by Jacqueline Alexander

There are no prizes for guessing who ans what features on Google's latest "zeitgeist", a list of the most popular keywords included in the billions of searces made during the course of the year.

Simon Cowell, although not featured in the top 10 searches, will be in his counting house as it is revealed that, in Britain, Susan Boyle came second only to swine flu, in the most searched-for news items.

The runner-up in Cowell's Britain's Got Talent show has just released the fastest-selling debut album ever and looks set to blaze a trail well into 2010. Both America and Britain are seemingly obsessed with the unlikely chart-topper as the weird world of celebrity watchers crown Susan queen of the search engines.

Out of the top 10 searches for news, six are the names of celebrities: Jade Goody (died), Robert Pattinson (new), Rihanna (beaten up), Michael Jackson (died), Stephen Gately (died). The remaining four places are taken by swine flu, Twitter, Google maps and Iran &emdash; the latter's searches being buoyed by the recent detainment of the five British yachtsman fro straying into Iranian waters while en route to Dubai.

Google's search engine is accepted as one of the most valuable research tool as it collates all our searches to work out trends in popular culture, news, retail and anything else that we search for online. Its powers of prediction are not lost on web watchers either.

For those people looking to predict the next "bog" thing on the internet, Google is probably the first to know as it measures the fastest-rising search terms all the time. This year's prime suspects for future domination include Hi5, an increasingly popular social networking site seeking to knock Facebook off its pedestal. However, Facebook is still the number one fastest-rising search term so it would be safe to assume that its popularity is not yet on the wane.

The BBC iPlayer has continued to be a revelation this year. Increasing numbers of people are using the service to watch their favourite television programmes as the quality and reliability of the service become the envy of broadcasters worldwide. Although it did not reach the lofty heights of the number one spot it took last year, it still managed a very respectable sixth in Google's fastest risers.

Elsewhere, the usual suspects are peppered through the various lists of most popular search terms sought in Britain; eBay, Facebook, Hotmail, YouTube and Twitter all feature in the top 10 of more than one list.

While it is interesting to discover the results of the annual zeitgeist for Britain, there are no surprises, merely a confirmation of suspicions. We all knew who would be there, it was just a question of in which order.

The results tell us that we are increasingly using the internet as an extension of ourselves. It is no longer out on a limb, reserved for the geeky or the avant garde. It is as familiar to mjost of us as the radio and the television and, as such, the zeitgeist merely reflects our collective interests.

As a person who spends both working and leisure time on the internet, it is interesting to note that I have only ever typed one of the top 10 search for terms into a search engine (swine flu). It leaves me wondering how many other people are slightly perplexed by the popularity of individual celebrities or social networking tools currently dominating the internet of the majority.

What do you search for on the internet? Is it really an extension of ourselves? Do our search habits qualify as an insight into a psyche? What is the last word you typed into a search engine? Please let us know at www.henleystandard.co.uk. It's anonymous so we won't judge you but it would be interesting to put together a snapshot of Henley's zeitgeist, wouldn't it? we'll report our findingd next week and let you know what Henley is searching for...

Movers and shakers News that the daughter of former American President, Bill Clinton is engaged to be married has caused a flurry of interest in her intended. Searches for Chelsea Clinton, 29, have increased by 31,000 per cent but it is her future husband. Marc Mezvinsky, who has taken the top spot this week.

Meanwhile, with Christmas nearly here, it seems that many people are seeking to lose a few pounds before embracing the season of indulgence. Searches for "dinners under 500 calories" have increased by over 50,000 per cent but look out for the annual appearance of Christmas cake and stuffing in the coming weeks, followed quickly by diet and fitness in January. Is it me or is the internet becoming predictable?