Joe and all, War Ousts Sex and Britney in Internet Searches
story.news.yahoo.com
LONDON (Reuters) - War toppled sex as the most popular search term among U.K. Web users on Thursday as the conflict in Iraq (news - web sites) captured the attention and apparently lowered libidos of online Britons, top Internet service Freeserve said.
"War was our top search term today, taking over from perennial favorites -- sex, Britney and travel," said Nadia Schofield, a spokeswoman for Freeserve, the U.K.'s largest Internet service provider.
Freeserve, a unit of France Telecom's Wanadoo Internet unit, boasts 2.6 million subscribers, putting it ahead of rival Internet service providers such BT Group Plc's BT Openworld and AOL Time Warner's AOL U.K. unit.
Sites such as Freeserve track day-to-day changes in popular search terms as a means of following changing fashions on the Web. Sex-related terms have long dominated the most searched-for subjects on the Web.
"Iraq" knocked female country music group "Dixie Chicks (news - web sites)" out of the top spot among on Yahoo's Buzz Index (http://buzz.yahoo.com/) of popular search terms among U.S. Internet users.
The Dixie Chicks sank to number three on the Yahoo index behind Iraq and rising rap singing star "50 Cent."
U.S. pop stars the Dixie Chicks have had their chart-topping songs, including current number one single "Travelin' Soldier," pulled from many U.S. radio playlists after they criticized President Bush (news - web sites)'s war plans in Iraq.
The Texas trio have been lambasted in events around the United States where their CDs have been burned and smashed by angry fans, fueling interest among Web users in the group.
On Wednesday, before the U.S. bombing of Baghdad began, Iraq ranked five on Yahoo's index of current search terms. |
