The Internet’s vaunted “viral” ability to spread obscure information rapidly helped to fuel interest last week in the writings of a 16th Century figure whose writings some consider prophetic, Michel de Nostredame, known as Nostradamus.
“Nostradamus” ranked high on a list of the keywords typed into search engines when people flocked online for news after the terrorist attacks, according to ComScore Networks, a Chicago-based firm that monitors Internet behavior.
It’s hardly surprising that surfers searched on such words as “CNN,” “World Trade Center” and “news”–the top three search terms during the three hours after the attack, according to ComScore. “Pentagon” ranked fourth.
But Nostradamus?
His name ranked eighth, right after Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader whose followers are suspected of orchestrating the attack.
“Nostradamus had appeared as a search term previously, but there were 50 times the number of entries for his name” in search engines after the attack compared with the same period a week earlier, says ComScore CEO Gian Fulgoni.
E-mail added heat to the Nostradamus frenzy. Various versions of a cryptic and apocalyptic verse were circulating widely last week, purporting to be from Nostradamus’ writings, which were originally in French.
When the e-mails started popping up in the inbox of Eric Estabrooks, a Chicago database programmer, he used Google.com to search on “Nostradamus” only to find that most of the top sites were inaccessible, apparently because too many people were trying to get on them.
A persistent Estabrooks confirmed that the e-mailed verse he received was identical to a verse composed and posted on the Web in a discussion about reason versus superstition. The writer’s intent was to debunk Nostradamus’ prophetic powers.
“Everyone, please, use a bit of common sense before you forward false e-mails,” Estabrooks chided in his own e-mail reply to senders.
His conclusion?
“People are looking for some kind of comfort and external validation in anything suggesting that the attack was part of some plan” over which they have no control, he says.
ComScore’s Fulgoni, meanwhile, says people turned to the Internet after the crash to amplify reports they were getting from other media. Nearly half of the top 30 search keywords were variations on the names of news outlets, mainly broadcast.
“If you’re watching TV and somebody mentions bin Laden and you wanted to find out more,” Fulgoni says, “what better way?”
More Top Picks Best Night Driving Glasses For Seniors
CNN.com’s site was by far the most popular news site, with 11.6 million unique visitors worldwide during the day of the attack, 680 percent more than a week earlier. The second most visited site was MSNBC.com, with 9.5 million visitors, a 236 percent increase.
Among content sites, FBI.gov ranked first that day, with about 280,000 visitors, up 1,306 percent from the previous week.
Tech show postponed: Producers of the Illinois Technology Showcase are expected to announce a date in October for the annual two-day show, which was among the many events canceled in Chicago last week.
Imark Communications, a Portland, Ore., company, is working to reschedule space at McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center. “We’re pushing for Oct. 18-19,” Imark event manager Nick Zarfas said.
About 145 companies had signed up to participate in the second annual event, and most had shipped exhibits to a storage facility for workers to begin assembling Sept. 10 in preparation for the exhibit floor’s opening Sept. 12.
“We had half the companies set up on the exhibit floor” when the terrorist attacks occurred, Zarfas said. “As the day progressed we realized there was no way we could continue.”
Imark was working to minimize the costs of striking and storing the exhibits, Zarfas said. There were no estimates on the cost of the postponement.