Dubai: Gulf News is the most popular news site in the UAE, followed by Malayala Manorama, Yahoo and BBC, according to Google, which tracks searches to rank the most-sought-after websites.
Google searches also revealed that Burj Khalifa is the fastest rising topic among internet users. "In general, the UAE Twitter community is fairly nationalistic and patriotic, so when the Burj Khalifa was opened it was one of the rare keywords that became a worldwide trending topic," Akanksha Goel, account director at Socialize, a social media training house, told Gulf News.
Google's Top Searches of 2010 reveal that while the popular sites include YouTube and Facebook, the UAE is increasingly using the internet for online payment services.
Ari Kesisoglu, Regional Manager, Middle East North Africa of Google, said: "The UAE results show that more users are using the internet to obtain information that is relevant to them such as utility bill payment and online banking.
Online services
"Searches for online services are on the uptake which underpins the need for businesses to be online catering to their customer requirements."
The fastest-rising online services include Gulf News jobs, Emirates NBD and Reel Cinema Dubai.
Interest in personalities saw Justin Bieber top searches in the UAE closely followed by Shakira and Lady Gaga.
"You don't see many local stars in popular people searches as the UAE has a very large expat population which means most people will be searching international artists," Goel said.
Goel said it would be interesting for those looking to utilise online trends and movements to know specifically what people are doing on those websties.
"The thing that calls for more research is what people are doing within these platforms. It would be interesting to know what people in the UAE are doing while they're on YouTube or Facebook," she added.
