Peter Kafka in Media on July 7, 2009 at 6:07 pm PT
Depending on your perspective, this is either interesting news or heartening news: Michael Jackson’s funeral and memorial were indeed a giant Internet event. But they don’t seem to have been as big as Michael Jackson’s death, and they weren’t as big as Barack Obama’s inauguration. So, let’s call them the third-biggest Web event of the year. To date.
Peter Kafka in Media on July 7, 2009 at 10:21 am PT
Looks like I called this one wrong: Earlier in the day, I predicted that Web interest in Michael Jackson’s funeral would be less than expected because anyone who really cared about this would be watching on TV. Nope.
Peter Kafka in Media on July 7, 2009 at 4:33 am PT
Michael Jackson’s funeral service starts at 1 pm Eastern today and you will have to try very hard not to see it: In addition to wall-to-wall coverage on the news channels, any Web site capable of live-streaming the event will be doing so. Is the Internet ready for the coming traffic jam? I’m betting it is.
Peter Kafka in Media on June 26, 2009 at 5:48 pm PT
One last Michael Jackson Web traffic story: Google says it received so many search queries with the late singer’s name on Thursday that it thought it was being targeted by an “automated attack.” Which meant that some visitors looking for Jackson info on Google News got an error message for about 25 minutes yesterday.
Peter Kafka in Media on June 26, 2009 at 3:30 pm PT
Remember all those stories about Web sites buckling under the weight of all that Michael Jackson traffic? Here’s the flip side, now being promoted by those same Web sites: Look at all of our Michael Jackson traffic! Yahoo, for instance, wants us to know that Jackson’s demise has been its good fortune. “Michael Jackson rushed to hospital” was the site’s “highest clicking” story, while Yahoo News set a record for hourly visitors.
Voices
Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on March 18, 2009 at 10:53 am PT
Who knew Dick Cheney was an e-book reader?
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the former vice president said that he owns an Amazon Kindle and used it to read James McPherson’s “Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief.” He said he also uses a BlackBerry, made by Research In Motion, to keep up with the news now that he’s no longer in office.
Beth Callaghan in News on January 31, 2009 at 8:04 pm PT
Rumor has it there are big games going on this weekend–at least one of which involves football players. The rest involve the usual players, though they might appear in different positions–and on different teams–from week to week. These games, most likely, will continue through Monday and beyond. Scores will be kept on an ongoing basis.
Peter Kafka in Media on January 28, 2009 at 7:57 am PT
Barack Obama’s inauguration was indeed a big day for Web video. But it appears as if the Internet audience wasn’t nearly as big as the one that watched it on TV. The people who run MSNBC.com, CNN.com and Foxnews.com aren’t complaining, though–they all saw huge increases in traffic.
Beth Callaghan in News on January 24, 2009 at 9:26 pm PT
The week just passed melded Inauguration week and the first week of earnings reports into one giant package filled with exuberance and resignation. Conventional wisdom says to start with the bad news and end with the good news, but that’s not how it went down: It started high with the momentum and promise of change embodied by Barack Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of the United States and ended low with some heavy hitters feeling the pain of the downturn.
Peter Kafka in Media on January 23, 2009 at 2:45 pm PT
Was Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration a big day for Web video? Yes. Was it a record day? No one knows. That’s because Web video metrics, which are supposed to be much more precise than television’s, are still pretty raw.
