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Facebook was the most searched app of the year on Bing, according to Microsoft’s analysis of its U.S. search engine activity for 2014.
“Bing search results show that we are social butterflies when it comes to downloading new apps,” wrote the Bing Team in a Nov. 30 blog post. “Half of the most searched apps of 2014 are social media apps.”
Faceboook took the lead in the category, followed by Twitter and Instagram. “Skype is the only video communication application on the list, coming in at number four,” said the Microsoft staffers, followed by Vine and Snapchat, the latter of which dominated headlines earlier this year after a data breach affecting Snapsaved.com exposed the private image-based messages of some users.
Whatsapp, which Facebook acquired for a whopping $19 billion in February, took eighth place. “The top gaming apps are Candy Crush and Angry Birds again this year, with newcomer to the list, Farmville, appearing in the number ten spot,” said the bloggers.
In terms of devices, one of the Redmond, Wash.-based company’s chief rivals took the crown.
Apple’s new iPhone 6 dominated the device category, while the iPad came in fourth. The iPhone 6 and phablet-sized iPhone 6 Plus made a splashy debut on Sept. 9. After the first full weekend on store shelves, Apple reported on Sept. 22 that the company sold a record-breaking 10 million iPhone 6 devices.
Microsoft had a strong showing with its Xbox One console in second place, the Surface Pro 3 in fifth and Windows Phone at seventh. Wearables made a showing with the Fitbit health and fitness tracker (third place) and Google Glass (tenth place). Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and Google’s Chromecast rounded out the top 10.
Beyond the world of tech, this summer’s World Cup tournament was the most popular news-related topic, followed by the Super Bowl. Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which was carrying 239 passengers (including 20 Freescale Semiconductor employees), took third place, followed by the Winter Olympics and ISIS.
The Big Bang Theory took the spot among TV-related searches. Fan favorites such as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones also ranked high. Disney’s juggernaut, Frozen, claimed first place in the movie category, while fans of comic book movies pushed Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: The Winter Soldier to the number two and three positions, respectively.
Somewhat fittingly, Microsoft’s home-town NFL team scored big in the sports category.
“The reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks surpassed the Dallas Cowboys as the most searched sports team in 2014. Coming in at number three are the World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants,” said Microsoft. “Surprisingly, no basketball teams made the top ten list of most searched teams.”
Users can explore more categories, including celebrities and strange news, and regions at the Bing Trends Website.