Is September 11 Still Top of Mind With Web Users?Business/Technology Editors WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2002 The Lycos 50(TM) Looks At How Internet Search Activity has Changed Over Past Six Months Since Sept. 11 Top 10 Sept. 11-Related Terms Web Users Continue to Search For Terra Lycos (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : TRLY and Madrid Exchange: TRR TRR Transportation Research Record (Journal) TRR Test Readiness Review TRR Target Ranging Radar TRR Total Rate of Return TRR Taiwan Research Reactor ), the largest global Internet network, today announced the following information from The Lycos 50 (http://50.lycos.com), an authoritative weekly list of the top people, places and things People, Places and Things is an unpublished collection of short stories by US author Stephen King, written in 1960 together with his friend Chris Chesley and published using their own press. users are searching for online. The terrorist attacks on America brought a whole host of new items onto The Lycos 50 and search activity was able to give an immediate pulse on what the world was thinking. Six months later, a number of topics, while down from their September search totals, still receive many more searches than they did before the attacks. Terms like Pentagon, Red Cross, Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden: see bin Laden, Osama. , and Anthrax anthrax (ăn`thrăks), acute infectious disease of animals that can be secondarily transmitted to humans. It is caused by a bacterium (Bacillus anthracis each received only a handful of searches before September 11. While none of these terms currently rank in the top 50, they have received a significant boost in Internet interest because of the attacks and people still continue to search for them. "Each time a new weapon makes news headlines, searches for the weapon increase online," said Aaron Schatz Aaron Schatz is the creator of Football Outsiders and one of the main contributors to Pro Football Prospectus 2005 and 2006. He graduated from Brown University. , writer of The Lycos 50. "This occurred with the Daisy Cutter and the AC-130 transport plane. When people watch the evening news and some new information comes out of Afghanistan, or a new report is issued about the World Trade Center, or new footage or photos suddenly surface about the war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act , people begin searching for these terms and they tend to make The Lycos 50." The week after the Sept.11 attack on America, 24 of the 50 items on The Lycos 50 were directly related to the attacks and some search terms remained on the list for several weeks. Osama bin Laden spent 14 weeks in the top 10, including holding the number one spot for five weeks. Three Sept. 11 - related search topics - Osama bin Laden, Nostradamus and World Trade Center - were among the 10 most searched topics for the entire year of 2001. Top 10 Sept. 11 - Related Subjects Searched One Week After Sept. 11: (Note the numbers in parentheses reflect where terms ranked on top 50 one week after Sept.11) 1) Nostradamus (#1) 6) American Flag (#6) 2) World Trade Center (#2) 7) Afghanistan (#7) 3) Osama bin Laden (#3) 8) Pentagon (#11) 4) New York City (#4) 9) Red Cross (#12) 5) Terrorism (#5) 10) Taliban (#13) "One trend we noticed immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks was the huge influx of hoaxes and urban legends that began surfacing online," Schatz added. "The Nostradamus prediction was the biggest hoax, receiving the most searches. Even though it was determined early on that the prediction was false, that didn't stop users from searching for it. In fact, Nostradamus received more searches in the week after Sept. 11, than any other search term over the past two and a half years. Face in the Smoke, the infamous fake photo from the WTC WTC World Trade Center, see there disaster, was another pop culture hoax to emerge following Sept. 11." By the beginning of January 2002, only three Sept. 11-related items remained on The Lycos 50. By February, Osama bin Laden finally dropped off the list after 22 weeks and the World Trade Center declined in search queries, dropping from the list after 23 weeks. Although search activity for Sept. 11-related topics has declined, Web users continue to search regularly for certain Sept. 11-related items. Of those terms, only New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. generates enough searches to make The Lycos 50, but most of those searches are not directly related to Sept. 11. Top 10 Sept. 11-Related Subjects for Week Ending March 2, 2002 (Note only New York City currently remains in the top 50): 1) New York City 6) September 11 2) World Trade Center 7) Islam 3) Osama bin Laden 8) Terrorism 4) George W. Bush 9) FBI 5) American Flag 10) Afghanistan About Terra Lycos Terra Lycos is a global Internet network operating in 43 countries in 20 languages, reaching 111 million unique monthly visitors worldwide. Created by the combination of Terra Networks Terra Networks, S. A., usually referred to as "Terra", is an Internet multinational company with headquarters in Spain. Part of Telefónica Group (the former Spain's public telephone monopoly and now one of the most important telecommunications companies in the world), Terra , S.A. and Lycos, Inc., in October 2000, Terra Lycos is one of the most popular Internet networks in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. , and is the largest Internet access provider See ISP. (networking, company) Internet Access Provider - (IAP) A company or other origanisation which provides access to the Internet to businesses and/or consumers. in Spain and Latin America. The Terra Lycos network of sites includes Lycos.com, Terra.com, Angelfire.com, ATuHora.com, Gamesville.com, HotBot.com, Invertia.com, Lycos Zone, Matchmaker.com, Quote.com, Rumbo.com, Sonique, Tripod.com, RagingBull.com and Wired News (Wired.com). The company's headquarters are in Barcelona and it has major offices in Boston, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Miami, Monterrey and Sao Paulo among others. It is listed on the Madrid stock exchange Madrid Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Madrid) The largest of Spain's four stock exchanges. (TRR) and on the Nasdaq electronic market (TRLY). For more information, please visit our corporate Web site at http://www.terralycos.com. (c)2002 Lycos, Inc. Lycos(R)is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University, at Pittsburgh, Pa.; est. 1967 through the merger of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (founded 1900, opened 1905) and the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research (founded 1913). . All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Terra Networks, S.A., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights reserved. |
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