Hurricane Katrina Drives Traffic to Blogs & News Search Engines

Hurricane Katrina made landfall at Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, at approximately 7:10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 29, 2005. The Class 4 hurricane decimated New Orleans and severely damaged other areas along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Its impact on the traditional news landscape remains to be seen. Traditional journalists were feeling vulnerable even before the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season got underway. Over the past five years, media companies in the U.S. have cut nearly 72,000 jobs, according to Boston Globe, explained on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2005, "Assigning too many people for what might turn out to be a smaller storm is a loss of valuable resources in a time of tightening news budgets." However, he added, "Not having enough reporters and photographers on scene when tragedy breaks leaves readers feeling underserved." When Hurricane Katrina hit, a large number of bloggers and other "citizen journalists" moved quickly to fill this vacuum. This includes remote bloggers, who mobilized to provide much-needed information and relief aid, as well as a few on-the-scene bloggers, who emerged as unique sources of information in an area where electricity, Internet connections and telephone communications have been severely compromised. According to Intelliseek's The Irish Trojan blog, written remotely by Brendan Loy from South Bend, Indiana, and BlogPulse, CNN.com. According to AOL News was one of the 10 fastest growing news and weather sites, jumping 71% from a unique audience of 1.8 million on Aug. 22 to 3.1 million on Aug. 29. By comparison, AOL News, On Monday, Aug. 29, page views on AOL News were up 73% over the previous Monday, Aug. 22. Almost half of the web traffic on AOL news on Wednesday, Aug. 31, was to hurricane articles. While total page views were 10.7 million that day, 5.2 million of these page views were for hurricane articles. Photos of Hurricane Katrina have now been viewed more than 100 million times on AOL News. In an email to me over the Labor Day weekend, Lewis D'Vorkin, Vice President, Editor-in-Chief of AOL News & Sports, shared an interesting perspective on the impact of citizen journalists, blogs, and news search engines on the traditional news landscape. (I should disclose that D'Vorkin and I both worked at Ziff-Davis back in the 1990s, and that I've held a workshop for the AOL corporate communications department.) "In a summer marked by London bombings, rising gas prices and record hurricanes, the world is turning to the fastest growing news team - citizen journalists - to get a human perspective through the eyes of those who lived or experienced the news as it unfolds," he wrote. D'Vorkin also suggested that I check out Gas Price Blog, and a Join in and Shape the News, you will see photos and comments that citizens have been sharing about Hurricane Katrina, gas prices and more. With hundreds of daily postings, the Pictures at the Pump, you will see the photos that citizens have been sharing along with their comments about gas prices. "The role of Internet news is evolving as regular, everyday people step up to the online microphone to share, shape and take charge of their stories," said D'Vorkin. "While citizen journalism has existed in forms through letters to the editor, man on the street' interviews and call-in radio or television shows, the widespread penetration of the Web has promoted the citizen journalist to a new stature. With new technology tools in hand, individuals are blogging, sharing photos, uploading videos and podcasting to tell their firsthand accounts of breaking news so that others can better understand. What we did is the future of news, except it's happening now," he added. Even traditional journalists and mainstream media are beginning to acknowledge the important role played by bloggers and other citizen journalists. A recent study by Columbia University found that more than 51% of journalists read blogs regularly and 28% rely on blogs to help in their reporting duties. Journalists use blogs to find story ideas, research and reference facts, find sources, and uncover breaking news or scandals. Since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, Technorati to offer washingtonpost.com readers the opportunity to view comments and opinions about its articles and editorials from around the blogosphere. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it may be too soon to know if traditional journalists and mainstream media will be able to rebuild their long-standing relationships with readers, viewers and listeners. But it is now as clear as the Google Maps that building stronger relationships with bloggers, citizen journalists, and news search engines should be a part of that effort. Greg Jarboe is the co-founder and CEO of News Blog