The Lycos 50 Looks Back at How Web Search Activity Has Changed Over the Past
Five Years; Most-Searched Events and Items from Sept. 1999 Through Today
Britney Spears is Most-Searched Term in Five-Year History of The Lycos 50
WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Terra Lycos (Nasdaq:
TRLY), the global Internet group, today announced the fifth anniversary of The
Lycos 50(TM) (http://50.lycos.com), a weekly list of the most popular people,
places and things Web users are searching for on Lycos. Lycos launched its
first Lycos 50 weekly list on Sept. 15, 1999. Over the past five years, The
Lycos 50 has evolved into a pop culture barometer, becoming a premier
destination for Web users who want to keep up with the next big thing and for
media and advertisers who want to immediately appeal to those users.
Dean Tsouvalas, current writer of The Lycos 50, looks back at which search
terms were hot five years ago compared to now, and which items are still top
of mind with Web users. In September 1999, it was the Backstreet Boys and
Beanie Babies that were all the rage online. Five years later, Clay Aiken and
Poker dominate Web search activity.
"But through it all, Britney Spears has been consistently the most popular
Internet search topic," said Dean Tsouvalas, writer of The Lycos 50. "Britney
appeared at number two on our very first Lycos 50 list in Sept. 1999, and she
has appeared on every list since then. It's rare for Britney to drop out of
the top 10, and she has never fallen out of the top 20 in five years."
Other search terms from the very first list, like Pamela Anderson, NFL and
Dragonball, have remained on The Lycos 50 since day one. The WWF, now known as
the WWE, Las Vegas, Tattoos, Marijuana and the Bible, continue to appear on
the list each week since they first emerged on the Lycos search logs in Sept.
1999. Lycos also tracked the popularity of Napster, which was eventually out-
searched by Morpheus. KaZaA ultimately topped both music-file swapping
services in Web search activity, and only KaZaA remains on the list today.
In 2001, the terrorist attacks on America brought entirely new search
terms onto The Lycos 50 and search activity was able to give an immediate
pulse on what the world was thinking.
"The week after the Sept. 11 attacks 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," Tsouvalas added. "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, but by February 2002, Osama bin Laden dropped off the list after 22
weeks and the World Trade Center declined in search queries, dropping from the
list after 23 weeks."
Just as the September 11 terrorist attacks had a dramatic effect on Web
search activity, the beginning of the War on Iraq also brought a number of new
topics to The Lycos 50.
"Al-Jazeera became the new number one term with Web users, generating
three times as much search activity as anything else, due to the POW video,
which North American television media outlets chose not to air," Tsouvalas
said.
The War in Iraq became a popular search topic once again when earlier this
year, reports and photos of prisoner abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib Prison
began to surface. News events, like the killing of American captive Nick Berg
by Iraqi militants, also greatly affected Web search activity and defined the
power of the Internet. "Over the past five years, Web users have learned they
can turn to the Internet to find photos, videos and news they may not be able
to get from television broadcasts and newspaper reports," Tsouvalas added.
Trivial news events like the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction and the
emergence of the Paris Hilton sex video, also changed Web search activity.
"Prior to the Jackson incident, the most-searched event in the history of The
Lycos 50 over a one-day period, was the Sept. 11 attack on America," Tsouvalas
said. "Jackson's half-time exposure far surpassed all other top stories we
have tracked over the past five years, including the 2000 Election, the Space
Shuttle Columbia explosion and the beginning of the Iraq War."
The Lycos 50 Top 10 Search Terms for the Week Ending Sept. 13, 1999:
1) Pokemon 6) WWF
2) Britney Spears 7) NFL
3) Football 8) Backstreet Boys
4) Pamela Anderson 9) Dogs
5) Dragonball 10) Beanie Babies
They Lycos 50 Top 10 Search Terms for the Week Ending Sept. 11, 2004:
1) Michelle Vieth 6) Poker
2) Clay Aiken 7) Britney Spears
3) Paris Hilton 8) Hurricane Ivan
4) Pamela Anderson 9) Brooke Burke
5) KaZaA 10) NFL
About Terra Lycos
Terra Lycos is a global Internet group, with a presence in 40 countries in
19 languages. The group, which resulted from Terra Networks, S.A.'s
acquisition of Lycos, Inc. in October of 2000, operates some of the most
widely visited Web sites in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America, and is the
largest access provider in Spain and Latin America. Terra Lycos' network of
Web sites includes Terra in 18 countries, Lycos in 22 countries,
Angelfire.com, Atrea.com, Azeler.es, Educaterra.com, Gamesville.com,
HotBot.com, Ifigenia.com, Invertia.com, Lycos Zone, Maptel.com,
Matchmaker.com, Quote.com, RagingBull.com, Rumbo.com, Tripod.com, Uno-e.com
and Wired News (Wired.com), among others. Terra Lycos, with headquarters in
Barcelona and operating centers in Madrid and Boston, as well as elsewhere, is
listed on the Madrid stock exchange (ticker: TRR) and on the NASDAQ electronic
market (ticker: TRLY).
Lycos(R) is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. All
other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Terra Networks,
S.A., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights reserved.
SOURCE Terra Lycos
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.lycos.com
CONTACT:
Kathy O'Reilly of Lycos, +1-781-370-3454,
Kathy.O'Reilly@corp.terralycos.com; or Anthony Loredo of Weber
Shandwick, +1- 212-445-8225, aloredo@webershandwick.com
|
