Why is Egyptian Queen Cleopatra the most viewed on Wikipedia in 2022?

In 2022, topping the list of most viewed articles on Wikipedia was a surprising name: Egyptian queen Cleopatra, with more than 50 million views.

Why are readers suddenly interested in Egyptian queen Cleopatra?

There were some stories about the remake of the classic movie Cleopatra, and the Superbowl commercial featuring Cleopatra. But these stories don't fully explain the viewership of the famous Egyptian queen.

Trying to figure out why the article about Cleopatra's views spiked, computational social scientists searched the Internet for answers.

Image of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra - (Photo: SOULVEDA)

Soon after, a user on Twitter provided a clue: The Google Assistant app , which uses voice recognition to allow users to interact with their smartphones, could be to blame.

Launched in 2016, the app is now integrated into at least 1 billion devices. It currently has more than 500 million monthly users.

Once you install Google and start using it, the app will provide example searches that you can perform by speaking sample commands into your phone's microphone. For example, 'Open YouTube ', ask to search the web or ask ' How much water is in a glass?'.

One of the commands that this search app offers is 'Try saying: Show Cleopatra on Wikipedia'.

By 2022, more than 50 million people had followed this prompt.

Before Google Assistant became popular in 2020, searches for Cleopatra were only around 2.5 million.

From Egyptian Queens to Collective Attention Design

The popularity of the article about the Egyptian queen was probably heavily influenced by the example command provided by the Google Assistant app. But this is more than just a happy coincidence.

Researchers in the fields of social data science and web analytics often use statistics—like Google searches and Wikipedia page views—to study attention and popularity dynamics.

In addition to predicting the success of movies at the box office, they also use that data to study the popularity of elections.

These relatively new data sources can be useful and interesting, and are a great way to track human behavior online. However, they can sometimes lead to misleading analysis.

In 2013, Google researchers attempted to predict the severity of flu season by analyzing user search data. They failed.

It is important for researchers in computational social science to consider qualitative methods and in-depth research to understand the story behind the data.

This phenomenon shows how a small change or design decision can have a large-scale impact, as this design will reach millions of users through digital technology.

In the case of Cleopatra, no harm was done. But the considerable power that high-tech and media companies have in shaping and influencing public attention should not be overlooked.

Aside from Cleopatra, most of the articles at the top of Wikipedia's list are about major world events: the Ukraine War, the death of the Queen of England, and the 2022 World Cup .

Billionaires Elon Musk and Johnny Depp also made the list.