With 2023 well underway, local and global headlines have garnered the interest of South Africans across the board with Google search activity for January showing much curiosity around sporting events, matric results, and innovations in technology.
At the top of many households’ minds was how to check matric results online. This also appeared as the second most searched term for the month. Off the back of this, ahead of many starting the new journey to tertiary education, came queries around how to upload documents on to the NSFAS website. This appeared in both top terms and questions searched.
Searches around registration to UNISA, as well as queries around Vaal University of Technology (VUT), also appeared in the top 10 most searched terms.
The month also brought with it endless headlines around Artificial Intelligence and how this will impact the livelihoods of employees globally. Of particular interest for those turning to Search was the burgeoning of ChatGPT, a chatbot launched in November last year by OpenAI.
In a true reflection of being a sport-loving nation, sporting fixtures such as the FA Cup, the Australian Open and SA20 appeared in searches throughout January. News of the untimely death of American rally driver Ken Block in a snowmobiling accident on 2 January, also appeared in the top five most searched terms.
Excited about upcoming celebrations, South Africans also searched for when Valentine’s day is, and were curious about New year’s day 2023.