Over the past week Google users around the world have been searching for news of actor Michael Clarke Duncan's death and investigating a hoax involving Morgan Freeman.
The fastest growing search term on Google over the week prior to September 10 was the name of actor Michael Clarke Duncan. Known for roles in films such as Armageddon, The Whole Nine Yards and The Scorpion King, Duncan was perhaps most famous for his portrayal of convict John Coffey in The Green Mile. The 54-year-old Academy Award nominated actor died on September 3 following a heart attack earlier in the year. News of his death caused searches for Micheal Clarke Duncan to increase by up to or over 5,000%, an increase in searches dubbed "Breakout" by Google.
Also reaching "Breakout" levels of searches this week was actor Morgan Freeman. Freeman, who dominates two of the top ten search terms this week, was subject to a hoax earlier this month which saw a Facebook page created mourning the actor's death; however, Freeman was quick to play down rumors.
News of the fake Facebook page quickly went viral and caused searches for "Morgan Freeman dead" and "Morgan Freeman" to increase by 5,000 percent and 3,900 percent respectively. Freeman is the latest actor to be subject to a death hoax in the past couple of weeks, with Bill Cosby and Eddie Murphy also recently being subject to similar rumors.
The search terms with the most significant growth worldwide in the last seven days, as measured by Google Insights and recorded September 10, were:
01. michael clarke duncan (*Breakout)
02. morgan freeman dead (*Breakout)
03. morgan freeman (+3,900%)
04. macaulay culkin (+350%)
05. aöf (+120%)
06. odnoklassniki ru (+120%)
07. mobile impressions 2 (+90%)
08. cristiano ronaldo (+70%)
09. e okul (+70%)
10. iphone 5 (+60%)
*Breakout defines a search term that has experienced a change in growth greater than 5,000 percent.



