An insight into the online community...

Liz

Wikipedia, MySpace, Flikr...all fine and dandy but I think another great window onto what people are interested in online is the ['Most read/most emailed'][mr] list on the BBC News website (towards the bottom on the right). At the time of writing, it's quite a sensible list (top story is called 'chips push through nano-barrier' though I'd like to think that people are clicking on it because they think it's about very small potato products) but when I checked yesterday, [this story][ts] about a woman fighting a lion with a pen was top. [mr]: http://news.bbc.co.uk [ts]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6301575.stm

ed

It's funny that Mrs Hamm thought it'd be easy to push a pen into a lions eye.

andy

Someone was telling me that it's a great concern to the people who write that page. Theyt keep putting on main headlines about Afghanistan and pensions, but people just click on Jade Goody stories.

andy

<a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=hornsey&sll=54.497163,-3.412628&sspn=0.703412,1.867676&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=19&ll=51.578856,-0.122834&spn=0.000735,0.002704&t=k&iwloc=addr">map</a>

<a href="http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/community_and_leisure/neighbourhoods/hth.htm">here</a>

Liz

Or ones [about hobbits][ah]. [ah]:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6311619.stm

Liz

I realise I'm keeping this thread alive by myself but the most emailed list right now reads: 1. Story about holes in the socks of the World Bank President (really) 2. Berlusconi apologising to his wife for flirting 3. All female UN peace-keeping force for Liberia (there's a song title gag in there somewhere) 4. Racism row caused by US college students 'blacking up' at a party 5. The Beautiful South have split up (in what way is this news?) Ace. What does this tell us about the people who read BBC News?

David

it tells us their name is Liz, perhaps?

Pete

It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the Infobahn has provided to the masses all the "and finally..."/Fortean Times stories they want.
<a href="http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2007/01/pigheadsWN_450x299.jpg">Two faced pig, anyone?</a>
Someone could write a thesis on social-websites/virial pathways/Memes and the effect on the media. Especially the meme aspect.