Allen Weiner

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Allen Weiner
Research VP
7 years at Gartner
23 years IT industry

Allen Weiner shares insights on how to monetize digital marketing through commerce. His focus on “Commerce Everywhere” provides perspective on how social, mobile, search and emerging channels can be tapped to improve customer experiences and drive business results … Read Full Bio

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U.S. Searchers Say: “What, Me Worry?

by Allen Weiner  |  December 10, 2008  |  Comments Off

Economy in trouble? Layoffs coming in horrific waves? Daily newspapers filing for bankruptcy? Oprah packing on the pounds? Hah. We’re not worried about any of that sort of mundane sort of trivia. What we want to know is does a straight beat a flush. Or what did Paris Hilton wear to some wonderful after-party. Or can Sarah Palin really see Russia from her front door.

According to Lycos’s tally of top searches for 2008 (I guess it’s over before it’s over), nothing related to jobs, Iraq, McCain, Obama, financial bailouts or gas prices made the top 10 searches for the year. The top searches are: Poker, Paris Hilton, YouTube, golf, Sarah Palin, Brittney Spears, Clay Aiken, Pamela Anderson, Facebook and Holly Madison. And since I had no idea who Holly Madison was (not related to Dolly Madison), I searched and found out she’s in that reality TV show with Hef and his “granddaughters.” (Couldn’t resist that one).

For the record: man of the year based on Lycos searches? Clay Aiken, not Barack Obama. And if you are wondering why NBC is thinking about cutting back on prime time programming? Consider that the top TV programs based on searches were “Star Trek Enterprise” (is that still even on?) and “Dancing with the Stars.” Now that’s entertainment.

What will the top searches for ’09 be? Hard to predict, but unless you’re playing with plastic chips, I am betting poker won’t be one of them.

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