Football, online education top searches in Vietnam: Google

The most searched was ‘Lich Thi Dau Euro’, or matches in the UEFA European Football Championship which was held from mid-June to mid-July when Vietnam had a stay-at-home order after the fourth Covid-19 wave hit.

The report said watching football helped people cope with the pandemic restrictions.

The event also made ‘VTV6’, a TV channel that broadcast the tournament live, finish in third position for the most googled keyword.

Five of the top 10 searches by Vietnamese involved platforms that assist with online learning, including education sites and portals Olm (3rd), Azota (4th), K12online (7th), VioEdu (8th), and video conferencing app Google Meet (5th).

Students have been using online learning apps for school lessons as the pandemic forced them to stay at home for months.

Snaptik, an app that allows users to download videos from social media platform TikTok without watermarks, was in sixth place.

Besides sports, people also searched for games and movies for entertainment, including online multiplayer game Play Together (9th) and Netflix (10th).

The stay-at-home order sparked an increase in searches related to social distancing regulations and doing Covid PCR tests and where to take the tests and others.

Google Search trends act as a cultural barometer, revealing what news, sports and other events captured a nation’s interest over the past year.

Around 68.72 million out of Vietnam’s 96 million population are online.