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Katrina Is "Most-Searched News Event" Since 9/11, Says Lycos

Katrina Causes Spike in Searches for Housing, Satellite Map Images, and Finding Missing People Sites
By Search News Desk
Article Rating:
September 10, 2005 11:00 AM EDT
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 18,348

Lycos yesterday announced details from The Lycos 50, the 50 most popular Internet search results for the week ending Sept. 3, 2005. 'Hurricane Katrina' is the most-searched news event since September 11 attacks. No other hurricane, says Lycos, with the exception of Hurricane Floyd, which hit number one in Sept. 1999, has generated the amount of search activity that Katrina currently sees.

The Lycos 50 Top 10 Search Terms for the Week Ending Sept. 3, 2005:

  • 1) Hurricane Katrina
  • 2) Poker 
  • 3) Labor Day
  • 4) Britney Spears
  • 5) Pamela Anderson 
  • 6) NFL
  • 7) New Orleans 
  • 8) Paris Hilton
  • 9) Neopets
  • 10) Dragonball

    Katrina becomes the most-searched Hurricane in the history of the internet. No other hurricane, with the exception of Hurricane Floyd, which hit number one in Sept. 1999, has generated the amount of search activity that Katrina currently sees.

    Searches for Hurricane Katrina have jumped more than 2,000 percent over the past week. Additionally, Hurricane Katrina now becomes the most-searched news event since the search activity surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks on America.

    New Orleans (#7) also makes this week's list, with a 1,500 percent jump in online interest, while CNN (#11) and the Red Cross (#18) re-enter this week's list just as they did in the aftermath of the Sept. 11.

    Search activity has risen more than 2,000 percent for the Red Cross. Searches for Find Missing People (#28) have also jumped dramatically over the past 72 hours.

    • The aftermath of the hurricane has also caused a rise in search activity for housing searches, up 555 percent. Although shy of making this week's list, there has been a significant jump in search queries for sites like OpenMyHouse.com, KatrinaHousing.org and KatrinaHomes.com. Searches for satellite map images of before and after shots of the affected areas of Hurricane Katrina have also jumped more than 300 percent over the past week.

    Published September 10, 2005 – Reads 18,348
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