As the curtain is being raised for the tech world of 2018, let's have a quick look at what internet users searched for on the world wide web last year.
The 10 most googled words for Thai people were mostly in the entertainment industry, according to Google's Year in Search 2017.
And while the world's most searched word was "Hurricane Irma", in Thailand it was the soap opera Phloeng Bun on Channel 3 that grabbed people's attention on the internet.
Ranked second was Roblox, which is a multiplayer online game that has 64 million active players monthly. The game had more searches last year than the 2016-most popular global search item Pokémon Go, the location-based augmented reality game.
The third most searched word from Thailand was "Durian Mask", which refers to the durian-masked contestant in The Mask Singer TV programme, which was the talk of the town in the middle of last year.
Coming fourth was the Phloeng Phranang drama series on Channel 7 and fifth was The Mask Singer singing contest TV programme of Workpoint Entertainment, followed by My Secret Romance, which is a South Korean television series.
Ranked seventh was Panama, a dance song released in 2013 by Romanian artist Matteo. The song has recently been a hit in Thailand and that even surprised the singer himself.
Two months ago Matteo posted a message in the comments of his Panama song official music video on YouTube to thank his Thai fans. He wrote: "Yaw guys! I can't understand a thing you are writing here, but I am glad that you like my song. Btw the #panamadance is so great! I'm thinking about making it also. We'll keep the touch." The video has more than 46 million hits so far.
The name of "Joe Boyscout" was the eighth most searched after his sudden death from a heart attack while performing on stage at a bar in Bangkok. His real name was Thanat Chimtoum. He was the lead vocalist of the once-popular boy band Boyscout. He died at 44.
Khleun Chiwit, another Thai TV drama, on Channel 3 was the ninth most searched. Tenth place was "Kao Kon La Kao", the charity-run project of rock star Artiwara "Toon Bodyslam" Kongmalai.
Artiwara completed his 55-day run of 2,215.40km, starting from the southernmost district of Betong in Yala province to the northernmost Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai. He raised more than 1.2 billion baht to donate to 11 state hospitals across the country.
-- Karnjana Karnjanatawe
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