Government shutdown, filibusters topped 2013's political news online

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A woman in Washington reads a message indicating that the HealthCare.gov insurance marketplace Internet site has too much traffic to continue enrollment after the White House’s deadline to have the site working for a majority of users. (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama leaves the room after speaking during the White House Youth Summit. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama turns around to respond to a man who was heckling him about anti-deportation policies. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) arrives for a press conference after the Senate passed the “nuclear option” on filibusters. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie celebrates his election victory in Asbury Park, N.J. (Mel Evans / Associated Press)

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Kathryn Burkholder, 6, of Newport News, Va., can’t stay awake during a speech by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli during a rally in Richmond, Va. (Steve Helber / Associated Press)

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Newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio waves to the crowd at his election night party in Brooklyn. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

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Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli poses with a cardboard cutout of Virginia House of Delegates candidate Buddy Fowler while greeting voters in Mechanicsville, Va. Cuccinelli lost. Fowler won. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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President Obama assists a woman who became dizzy during his remarks in the White House Rose Garden about the error-plagued launch of the Affordable Care Act’s online enrollment. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president of CGI Federal; Andrew Slavitt, group executive vice president for Optum/QSSI; Lynn Spellecy, corporate counsel for Equifax Workforce Solutions; and John Lau, program director for Serco, from left, are sworn in at a hearing on implementation of the Affordable Care Act before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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President Obama sits with House Speaker John A. Boehner during memorial service for former House Speaker Tom S. Foley. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) talks with reporters before attending the weekly Senate Republican Caucus policy luncheon at the Capitol. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Protesters listen as National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander testifies before the House on potential changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

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Lizardo Buleje of San Antonio stands in front of the U.S. Capitol during a rally calling for immigration reform. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

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Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano prepares to testify on immigration before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “stand your ground” laws. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius speak after President Obama delivered a speech about the troubled debut of the Affordable Care Act’s online enrollment. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

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Speaker of the House John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) pumps his fist after leaving a meeting of House Republicans. Congress voted Oct. 16 to end a 16-day government shutdown and allow the Treasury to continue borrowing to pay the nation’s bills. President Obama signed the budget deal shortly thereafter. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who railed against any government funding for federal healthcare, answers questions from members of the media after meeting with Republican senators. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) leaves the Capitol with reporters in tow. (Andrew Burton / Getty Images)

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A police officer walks through the Rotunda of the Capitol while the building was closed to tours during the first day of the government shutdown. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

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A veteran on an Honor Flight tour visits the World War II Memorial during the government shutdown. (Shawn Thew / EPA)

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), at a news conference, look at a display of the time left until a government shutdown. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)

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Reporters check their smartphones while waiting outside House Speaker John A. Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office at the Capitol before the government shutdown. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama comforts families of the victims of the Washington Navy Yard shooting in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery / EPA)

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during the “Exempt America From Obamacare” rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

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The early morning sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

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Protestors holding up their red-painted hands stand behind Secretary of State John Kerry as he testifies on Capitol Hill before a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing on U.S. military strikes on Syria. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

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President Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, during talks about intervention in the Syrian conflict. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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Anti-war demonstrators protest against U.S. intervention in Syria in front of the White House. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

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U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center, chains his hands with Vietnam’s Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh, right, and Thailand’s Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. (Vincent Thian / Associated Press)

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President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton wave as they leave 50th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington. (Charles Dharapak / Associated Press)

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Rev. Bobby Turner of Columbus, Ohio, places his hand on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. prior to the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

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President Obama reacts to a missed putt on the first green at Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, Mass., during the Obama family vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images)

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Army Pvt. Bradley Manning is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., before a sentencing hearing in his court martial. After the hearing, Manning announced a desire to be called Chelsea from now on and to be considered a woman. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

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Georgia Republican state legislators Mandi Ballinger, center, Terry Rogers, left, and Rick Jasperse, right, throw up paper from their desks at the conclusion of the legislative session in the House chamber in Atlanta. (David Goldman / Associated Press)

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President Obama speaks in a surprise appearance during the daily press briefing at the White House about the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

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Former New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner during a candidate forum on small business in New York. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

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President Obama in June peers out from a prison on Robben Island, South Africa, which once housed former South African President Nelson Mandela for 18 years of his 27-year prison term. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

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Kris Perry, left, kisses Sandy Stier as they are married at City Hall in San Francisco in June after a federal appeals court cleared the way for the state of California to immediately resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after a 4-1/2-year freeze. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is seen in an elevator on Capitol Hill after speaking on the Senate floor about gun legislation. (Charles Dharapak / Associated Press)

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive to board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on their way to Boston to mourn victims of the deadly Boston Marathon attacks. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

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President Obama pauses while speaking at “Healing Our City: An Interfaith Service.” The service, dedicated to victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, was held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. (Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)

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From left, President Obama and former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

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Former President George H.W. Bush shakes hands with his son, former President George W. Bush, during the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

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President Obama looks to see if it is still raining as a Marine holds an umbrella for him during his joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House. (Charles Dharapak / Associated Press)

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President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner during a ceremony to dedicate a statue of civil rights icon Rosa Parks on Capitol Hill. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama take to the dance floor during the Commander-in-Chief Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

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President Obama takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in the company of First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha in the Blue Room of the White House. (Larry Downing / Los Angeles Times)

By Morgan Little

Dec. 17, 2013 12:29 PM PT

WASHINGTON – They’re not perfect measures of public interest, but the year-end roundups released by tech giants Google, Twitter and Facebook do provide some insight into the online political curiosity of the nation.

Of the year’s political events, none captured the nation’s attention quite like the government shutdown. Only the Super Bowl was talked about more than the 16-day closure of the federal government on Facebook. And on Google, it was the sixth-highest trending search topic and the second-highest trending event after the Boston Marathon bombing.

Interest on Google in the shutdown far outstripped that of the rollout of the federal health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act, at least until the shutdown ended. Yahoo’s audience was much more interested in the so-called Obamacare implementation, with the term landing sixth on its top 10 most-searched list. And users of Microsoft’s Bing were more interested in gun rights, Anthony Weiner and the fiscal cliff.

PHOTOS: The battle over Obamacare

But Google’s reach is more than double that of Bing and Yahoo combined, putting the government shutdown at the forefront of the year’s political news.

Google in particular shows just how quickly an issue can seize the nation’s attention and then just as quickly return to the back burner. Interest in the Syrian civil war spiked as the possibility of U.S. military intervention intensified, peaking immediately after President Obama’s Aug. 31 speech asking for congressional support for strikes against Syria.

But compared with issues such as the government shutdown or the Affordable Care Act, the debate over intervention in Syria was just a blip on the radar.

PHOTOS: The year in national news

As far as political personalities are concerned, the filibuster duo, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), received significant surges in attention during their much-publicized stances against Obama’s drone and healthcare policies.

Though at no point did their speechifying overshadow interest in, say, Obama, Cruz’s sort-of-filibuster landed him the second-highest increase in search volume among male political figures, beaten only by the late Nelson Mandela. Paul was fifth on the list, beating Secretary of State John Kerry (No. 8) and Vice President Joseph Biden (No. 10).

And those Republican filibusters spread across the social Web, with #StandWithRand dominating Twitter during the nearly 13-hour filibuster.

Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis was similarly launched into online stardom with her own filibuster against abortion restrictions. Davis, previously an unknown figure, shot to the top of Google’s rankings for female politicians, became a social media sensation and is now in the midst of a gubernatorial bid.

Serving as a reminder to politicians and reporters alike that not every American is informed about everything, four of the top 10 most frequently searched “What is … ?” questions over the past year were tied to political issues.

Google users wondered what ricin was after a letter containing the deadly substance was mailed to President Obama, what the Defense of Marriage Act was as soon as the Supreme Court invalidated it in June, what the sequestration budget cuts were and, three years after it was passed, what Obamacare is.

Google’s figures are generated from a sample of U.S. queries made through its search engine to estimate how many times a particular term was searched in comparison to total searches at that time.

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Government shutdown, filibusters topped 2013’s political news online

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