Robin Williams' suicide seared into the world's collective mindset more than anything else this year, based on what people were searching for on Google. The reaction to Williams' death in August topped Google's list of this year's fastest-rising search requests. It beat notable events such as the World Cup, the Ebola outbreak, the March disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 and the Ice Bucket Challenge, an internet video craze to raise awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Other topics of worldwide intrigue on Google included the addictive smartphone game Flappy Bird, bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, the Middle East extremist group Islamic State, the hit Disney movie Frozen and the Winter Olympics in Russia. Williams, Ebola, the World Cup and the Ice Bucket Challenge also ranked among the most discussed subjects this year on Facebook, which released its list last week. Google released its list on Tuesday. Williams' death drove many people to reminisce about his career highlights. In the first few days after his suicide, there was a six-fold increase in the number of Google searches for carpe diem - a Latin phrase for "seize the day" that Williams popularised in the film Dead Poets Society . Reports about Williams' battle with depression caused searches for that term to triple. There was also a flurry of searches about his movies, the top five being Mrs Doubtfire , Dead Poets Society , Good Will Hunting , Jumanji and Patch Adams . Google's worldwide list of the year's hottest search requests mirrored the activity in the US with a few exceptions. Wurst didn't make the top 10 list in the US, nor did the Winter Olympics. Instead, web surfers in the US were seeking more information about the August confrontation that culminated in a white policeman shooting and killing Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Ukraine's conflict with Russia also held more intrigue in the US than the rest of the world. Google's review follows annual round-ups compiled during the previous two weeks by its main search rivals. Although Google's list usually comes last each year, its rankings typically provide more telling insights into what people were thinking because the firm's technology processes about two out of every three searches made online. Yahoo's search lists indicated that its websites tend to attract entertainment-minded people. While Ebola topped Yahoo's rankings this year, celebrities or entertainers occupied six of the other slots. They were singer Ariana Grande in third, actress Jennifer Lawrence fourth, actress Kaley Cuoco fifth, reality television star Kim Kardashian sixth, singer Miley Cyrus in eighth and actress Jennifer Aniston at number 10. Yahoo's list was rounded out by video game Minecraft, Frozen and Apple's latest iPhone. Instead of doing a wide-ranging compilation of top searches, Microsoft's Bing separated its lists into disparate categories, such as athletes, in which NBA star LeBron James scored the highest, celebrities, and musicians, topped by Beyonce. The top global trending searches in 2014: Robin Williams World Cup Ebola Malaysia Airlines ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Flappy Bird Conchita Wurst Islamic State Frozen Sochi Olympics
