Piracy less important than Sex to Africans

(Version anglaise seulement)

A new tool by Google reveals how Africans use the Internet. Not being a surprise, "sex" is one of the most searched words in the Internet, but it may come as an embarrassment to many Muslim countries that their citizens are the world's most frequent digital sex searchers; in particular North Africans.

But also in sub-Saharan Africa, "sex" is among the most popular searches. The Google Trends tool also reveals Africa's most popular celebrities and potential markets for African products. When it comes to using the Internet to look for sex, North Africans in particular seem to have found a new outlet for societal taboos.

The sex search on Google is topped by Pakistan, but closely followed by Egypt. Moroccans even reach the top-ten list both in English (6th on "sex") and in French (2nd on "sexe"). Algerians top the search for "sexe", showing twice as much interest as the French and Tunisians.

A quick look inside the booming cybercafés in North Africa confirms this obsession. On a regional outlook, Mauritanians, Malians and Nigerians are the most sex-searching West Africans, followed by the Senegalese, while Ivorians and Gabonese already have found other uses for the Internet. In Southern Africa, Zambians and Malawians are searching twice as much for sex as Angolans and Mozambicans. Tanzanians however are even more interested in finding sex on the Internet, while Ethiopians and Somalis demonstrate a true obsession. Even homosexuality, which is illegal in most Muslim and African countries, spurs much interest in Muslim Africa. While the search word "gay" is dominated by Latin Americans, it is mainly Filipinos and Saudi Arabians looking for "gay sex". The African "gay sex" list is topped by Kenyans, Tanzanians, Namibians, Zimbabweans and South Africans. In the francophone world, however, Algerians and Moroccans by far top the world's search for "la homosexualité".

Algerians also by distance top the search for the "sexe gay", with the French and the Moroccans being somewhat more timid on the issue.

Even when it comes to economics, Google Trends could prove a nice tool for African business analysts. If you want to offer safari holidays, Google reveals that the word "safari" is most searched by South Africans, followed by Singaporeans, Britons and Swiss - a good market indictor. The biggest non-African markets for "beads" may be found in the US, Australia and Singapore, it seems. Sweet mangos catch special interest in Lithuania, ostrich products in Iran, while there seems to be a market for khat in Viet Nam and Malaysia.

The Google Trends tool was only presented earlier this week - in a basic, unfinished version - but has already been praised on the technology market for opening up new possibilities within sociology analyses and market research. Search trends can be followed to a city level in most countries.

Critics however warn that making search results public in an ever more detailed manner could collide with privacy rights.

Source: Ecoterra Intl, May 18, 2009

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