Tin Pei Ling, iPad 2 and Hong Kong top Singapore search terms

Google Singapore has unveiled its list of top search terms used by Singaporeans in its annual Zeitgeist that offers a glimpse of the year’s major trends and events.

Topping the list of personalities were Tin Pei Ling, Nicole Seah and George Yeo, underscoring the nation’s interest in the watershed General Election 2011. Searches on the elections also figured prominently in this year’s top news searches.

Singaporeans were also on the hunt for information on the iPad 2, the iPhone 5 that didn’t materialize, as well as Samsung products. The gamers in our midst were googling for Dragon Nest, DotA and Wolfteam. Of course, there’s also the PC Show this year, where we were hungry for deals to feed our insatiable appetite for all things tech.

We also tried to keep up with the major events that took place this year, including the devastating earthquake in Japan and the uprisings in Libya and Egypt. Closer to home, many wondered about the changes to the subway system with the addition of new stations on the Circle Line.

Singaporeans also relied on local bloggers to make sense of what’s going on around them, get fashion tips and check out the latest happenings in the lives of their favourite online personalities. The honours for the top local blogs went to mrbrown, Beatrice Tan and Yankaykay.

This year, we also tuned in to the latest celebrity gossip, with American reality TV star Kim Kardashian — famed for her 72-day marriage to NBA star Kris Humphries — topping the list of celebrity searches. The Justin Bieber fever has infected Singaporeans too – the teen star led the red carpet list, with girlfriend Selena Gomez closing in from behind.

Singaporeans also scoured the Web for places to get their fix of pizzas, grilled seafood, cupcakes, waffles and nasi lemak. We love places that marry great food with great shopping. So, it wasn’t a surprise that Hong Kong emerged as the top travel destination for Singaporeans, though a good number of us are also on the lookout for beach destinations like Maldives, Phi Phi island and Hawaii.

“The year-end Zeitgeist is a cultural barometer showing us what quickened our national heartbeat and drove our curiosity,” said Google spokesperson Sana Rahman. “Singaporean searches for sun-soaked travel, good food, gadgets and games show we’re a nation that knows how to have fun any day of the year,” she added.

Here’s a quick overview of Singapore’s top searches: