Cloud computing buzzphrase cooling - Google Trends

The relative popularity of 'cloud computing' as a search term is decreasing - and has been since 2011

What do selfie sticks and cloud computing have in common?

They're both plummeting in popularity when it comes to how often they're searched for on Google - on a relative basis at least - according to Google Trends.

In contrast, other industry buzzphrases such as big data and the Internet of Things have never been more popular with the internet-searching public.

Having tracked what people are searching for since 2004, Google Trends provides an intriguing snapshot of cultural shifts over time, not least in the fast-paced world of technology.

The service divulges the relative popularity of a given search term, not the total number of searches.

Big data and the Internet of Things are among 2015's winners, ending the year on a perfect score of 100, meaning they have never been more searched for in comparison with all searches conducted on Google.

Cloud no longer getting the clicks

Quite possibly a victim of its own ubiquity, cloud computing is currently languishing on a score of 38, having fallen gradually in relative popularity as a search term since it peaked at 100 way back in June 2011.

In the UK specifically, cloud computing first registered on Google Trends in May 2008, peaked at 100 in March 2011 and now boasts a score of 35.

The ebbing public intrigue around cloud may not be surprising given its increasing pervasiveness, with analyst Forrester even predicting the term cloud may vanish from the IT vernacular altogether as it becomes a victim of its own ubiquity.

Fog computing - a term created by Cisco to denote the edge of the network that has also received buzz in the past 18 months - is also currently declining. It first appeared in January 2014, peaked in March 2015 and now has a score of 66.

Selfie sticks, BYOD and wearables on the wane

The selfie stick's fall from grace this year has been even steeper. Its popularity peaked in December 2014 and June 2015 but now its score stands at just 55.

BYOD is another term that has waned in the collective public consciousness.

On a global basis, BYOD peaked at 100 in October 2014, having made its first appearance in Google Trends in May 2005. In the UK, BYOD's popularity as a search term has been in decline since October 2012 and it now has a score of 77.

Wearable technology currently has a score of 83 on a global basis, having peaked in October 2014. The term first appeared in Google Trends in January 2011.

IoT, converged infrastructure and big data getting bigger

However, more people are searching for the terms big data and the Internet of Things than ever before, relative to all Google searches.

Big data's score rose from 18 in January 2012 to 46, 73 and 87 in January 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively, and now stands at 100. It also currently boasts a perfect score in the UK.

The Internet of Things first registered with Google Trends in November 2005 but its score didn't break above 20 until January 2013, before rising to 51 in January 2014 and 87 in January 2015 and 100 this month. In the UK, the term peaked in October 2015.

Converged infrastructure is also on an upward trajectory, first emerging in November 2009, rising to a score of 68 in January 2015 and peaking at 100 in October 2015.