As we enter the last month of summer, people in Iran are making the last-ditch effort to fix that elusive summer vacation while the start of the new academic year looms over the horizon.
Long-Term Results
"Download" written in Persian remains the top term searched in the country, doubling the next popular search term "Aks" or picture in Persian.
Mazandaran and Bushehr provinces in August are searching the media most to listen, watch and play. The central city of Shiraz is number one in looking for pictures again.
Like last month, this is followed by "Ahang" meaning music. "Download Ahang" follows with Mazandaran's residents continuing to be the most ardent music fans in the country.
Movies remain a popular pastime with "film" written in Persian featuring in the top ten. Again, Iranians across the country like to download and watch movies, with Mazandaran once again ranking first, according to the search giant.
Nationalist sentiment is as strong as ever this month, with "Iran" in Persian being the next most popular word. In this regard, West Azarbaijan province's city of Urmia remains the top city and is followed by Tehran and Ardabil.
Where "bazi" or games is concerned, Golestan's city of Gonbad Kavous is most obsessed with online gaming, followed by the neighboring city of Gorgan. Bushehr on Iran's Persian Gulf coast is also interested in online gaming and trails the two.
Next comes the only constant Latin search term "Google," with West Azarbaijan and Khorasan Razavi taking the top spots respectively, with the city of Urmia using the search engine the most.
Iran's Baluchi-speaking stronghold of Sistan-Baluchestan Province comes in pole position this month, and is followed by Kurdestan in the far west of the country and Kermanshah in center.
Following the search giant is its smaller but dominant popular mobile operating system of Android. Searches for Android have been consistent over the last month. Sistan-Baluchestan is in first place and followed by the eastern province of South Khorasan.
Rising Trends
Numbers 1 to 7 this in August are all directly related to Iran's national university entrance exam called Konkoor, a compulsory test for all students pursuing higher studies, whether vocational or academic.
Iran has become obsessed with education, according to Google. So much so that in every province, the rising trend points toward the search term "Sanjesh" meaning assessment and the name of the primary governmental organization that conducts the test.
In fact, "Sanjesh" could be designated "word of the month", as it creeps up into the long-term search figures. And the leading province searching this topic is Sistan-Baluchestan followed by northern neighbor South Khorasan.
At number 6 this month is "Entekhab", meaning selection, this term is related to the above searches and more focused on the student looking at university websites and selecting a major. The leading province in this regard is Lorestan followed by Kermanshah.
Another surprising trend this month is the rise in popularity of a broadcast television show coming in at both sixth and seventh place. The program called Khandevaneh—a Persian portmanteau word combing Khandeh (laughter) and Hendevaneh (watermelon)—broadcasting on one of IRIB's new digital channel named Nasim has gained a lot of traction online.
The program is a talk show that aims to lift the spirits of Iranians and bring laughter to their homes.
The program's only puppet character "Jenab Khan" (meaning Mr. Khan in Persian) stands at eighth place.
The city most obsessed with the program during the past Iranian month is the southern Khuzestan city of Ahvaz, with fellow southern city Bushehr in tow. This is mainly because the highly popular Jenab Khan puppet is from Abadan in Khuzestan. He has won over large audiences all over Iran with his proudly southern accent and attitude.
Coming in at number seven this month is "recruitment" written in Persian, this could be trending mainly because of people failing to enter their chosen universities flocking to the jobs market.
Auto fans are at the end of this month's rising searches for "car prices" written in Persian. The province most concerned with car prices this month is the northern province of Gilan followed by neighboring Mazandaran.
Isfahanis come in third place for searching prices, living up to their image of being price-conscious people. Vehicle prices have dropped significantly in recent months and the auto market has been more stagnant than ever. A grassroots campaign "No to Local Cars" has gained traction, as more and more Iranians are refusing to purchase locally-made vehicles of subpar quality as long as prices remain high.
