Government Technology

Hurricane Katrina Drives Web Users Online To Web Sites For Red Cross, NOAA, News And Weather


September 19, 2005 By

Nielsen//NetRatings recently reported that concerned Web users visited a range of Web sites, including the sites for the Red Cross, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), top news and weather destinations, to access information on Hurricane Katrina.

These sites provided Web users with ways to contribute aid and to access the latest updates on devastated areas.

Traffic to RedCross.org skyrocketed 184 percent overnight, attracting more than 1.1 million people on Wednesday, August 31 as compared to 390,000 unique visitors on Tuesday, August 30. In comparison, RedCross.org saw 1.1 million unique visitors during the entire month of December 2004 in response to the South-East Asian tsunami disaster, which grew to more than two million in January 2005.

As of Sept. 15, 2005, the Red Cross has received $688.9 million in gifts and pledges for the hurricane relief effort, of which an estimate $329 million has been received online.

Traffic to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site grew an astronomical 402 percent in a Monday-to-Monday daily traffic comparison. NOAA.gov, which posted updates and aerial photos of the outlying hurricane areas, attracted more than 3.2 million unique visitors on Monday, August 29 compared to 640,000 unique site visitors a week prior.

Web surfers looking for news and weather updates visited a variety of TV, print and dedicated weather destinations for the latest Hurricane Katrina information. Leading the fastest growing Monday-to-Monday daily traffic rise and each experiencing triple-digit growth, Advance Internet drew 1.4 million people on Monday, August 29 due to its NOLA.com, followed by ABCNEWS Digital and MSNBC, which attracted 1.1 million and 6.5 million unique visitors, respectively. WorldNow and Fox News rounded out the top five sites, jumping 95 percent and 84 percent to 1.1 million and 2.0 million unique visitors, respectively.

Weather Channel and AccuWeather's dedicated sections to Hurricane Katrina coverage drove 7.7 million and 961,000 unique visitors to the sites in a week-over-week comparison, garnering 73 percent and 55 percent in respective growth.

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