Google's trend-tracking technologies have already proven that what we're collectively seeking on our search engines speaks volumes about what's on our minds. And the results of this year's Google Zeitgeist show that what the Europeans have on their minds is, well ... social networking and American popular culture.

Google Zeitgeist, in tracking the most popular and fastest rising search terms across varying regions and categories, attempts to define what its title would indicate: "The spirit of the times," or, "the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era." The 2009 tallies are in, and the 27-nation bloc that is the European Union has produced a list that's remarkably America-centric.

Included in the EU's list of most popular and fastest rising searches are "New Moon," Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Megan Fox, Chris Brown, Windows 7 -- and Facebook, which topped the list of the year's all-around most popular search terms. The American MTV video music awards topped the list of fastest rising event searches.

But what's perhaps the most jarring are the results of the EU's fastest rising news searches, a list that brings in Ted Kennedy at number one and Chris Brown at number five. It's especially weird if you consider that Senator Kennedy didn't even make the same list in the U.S. and that the EU finally ratified the Lisbon Treaty this year, which will likely change the political landscape of the bloc forever. The Lisbon Treaty doesn't appear on a single most popular or fastest rising search list in the EU.

If further proof is needed as to what degree America is setting pop culture sensibilities on a global level, I'll report back when the 2010 Zeitgeist is unveiled -- provided Google Wave doesn't engulf our worlds first.