Our new what’s trending article will detail the topics of most interest to Australians across Facebook and Google searches in that month.

In July, news stories and tragedies were par for the course on Google, with the common denominators between Hot Searches – July 2014 and this year being sport and tax. Science and technology was the name of the game for Facebook in July, as well as a focus on public figures in sport. Except for news stories and tributes regarding the death of Phil Walsh, Facebook and Google differed in almost every topic of interest – demonstrating an interesting gap between what is going on in the world of social media and Google search marketing activity.

Mick Fanning had a close encounter with a suspected great white shark at the J-Bay Open 2015 finals in South Africa on 19 July. Subsequently, the footage and his incredible story went viral online and it was the top rising search term in Australia for July. Fanning was competing in the surf competition when the shark swam next to him and bit off his leash.

Search volume for the search term and related terms like ‘Fanning shark attack and ‘Mick Fanning video’ quickly picked up on 19 July and reached a peak on 20 July. Since then, Fanning appeared on 60 minutes to document his first surf back in the water in the North Coast area of Australia. He donated his $75,000 fee to appear on the show to Matt Lee, a Ballina shark attack victim.

Australians on Facebook were fascinated by the discovery of Kepler-452b, an exoplanet identified by a space telescope. Publicly announced by NASA on 23 July, a trip to this Earth-like planet would take approximately 26 million years if you travelled at a speed of 59,000 km/h. Men of Facebook were also particularly interested in the New Horizons space probe’s encounter with Pluto. On 14 July, the spacecraft flew 12,500 km above the surface of the dwarf planet, becoming the first spacecraft to explore Pluto.

Adelaide AFL coach and former player Phil Walsh was tragically found dead in his home in the middle of the night on 3 July. Walsh’s son was later charged with his murder. This struck an emotional chord with AFL fans around the nation, with South Australian fans particularly devastated – they were the largest searchers of this search term during the first few days of July.

Overseas news stories captivated the nation, particularly those regarding the Greek debt crisis – Greece itself was the third most-talked-about topic on Facebook in July. Facebook users shared new updates about the story as it developed.

The Aussie side’s involvement in this year’s Ashes Test series hasn’t been successful – Aussie skipper Michael Clarke has retired from Test cricket following an embarrassing series loss to England and a push from the media. Australian sports fans have been trawling Google for results and live updates all throughout the series, which will have its Fifth and final Test on 20 August. The search volume has risen and fallen in accordance with the dates of each Test, with related rising search terms like ‘Ashes highlights’, ‘Ashes live score’ and ‘Ashes score’ popular the country over.

Facebook’s younger demographic were intrigued by technology stories around the globe. Both men and women were interested in Uber’s special ice cream delivery promotion that ran across major cities serviced by Uber the country over, as well as the exciting launch of Apple Music, a Spotify rival, at the end of June. Men also showed an interest in Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade.

July had Aussies scrambling to get the cash back from their tax return: 1 July was a beehive of activity for ‘Etax’ – and if this Google search term is anything to go by, they’re ditching the accountant route and doing it themselves this year. Etax is an online way of lodging your tax return to the ATO. The Tasmanian devils themselves were the top searchers in this category, with South Australians and Queenslanders trailing closely behind.

Public figures in the sports sphere were of interest to Australian Facebook users in July, particularly Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes and NRL player Cameron Smith. Both topics were controversial, with both men and women driving the conversation with their opinions for or against the sports stars. Similar to the large search volume on Google, tributes flowed after the passing of Adelaide AFL coach Phil Walsh.

The prestigious Wimbledon final, held on 12 July, had Australian Googlers in a bind as they eagerly sought out the results of the final. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic went head to head and Djokovic came out on top to win his third Wimbledon title against Federer’s seven. The search volume was fairly steady over the course of the tournament and hit a peak on the day of the final, with Victorians taking out the top spot for the biggest fans, though regional interest was fairly consistent across Australia.

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