Victim Zero: The Internet Bullying of Monica Lewinsky by Michael Erbschloe - HTML preview

ABCNEWS.com+Starr Report=Record Traffic September 1998

ABCNEWS.com experienced record traffic on Friday, September 11, the day Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's report regarding President Clinton was released on the Internet. ABCNEWS.com received more than 1.4 million users, nearly two million visits and nearly 12 million impressions (page views).

ABCNEWS.com's previous record day was Monday, August 17th  when President Clinton testified in front of the grand jury. "Friday was a watershed day for the Internet," said Katherine Dillon, Vice President and General Manager. "The medium's global reach, efficiency, immediacy and ability to host vast amounts of data proved the viability and importance of the Internet. We at ABCNEWS.com were proud not only to provide our users with Ken Starr's report in its entirety, but also to provide context and background enabling our users to understand the significance and impact of the report and a forum for them to voice their own opinions." The following is the ABCNEWS.com traffic breakdown for Friday, September 11, 1998:

• Friday, Daily Averages Percentage increase September 11th over daily averages
• Impressions: nearly 12 million more page views
• Users: more than nearly 1.4 million

From June 1998 through August 1998, ABCNEWS.com's traffic had grown 81%. Part of the ABC Internet Group, ABCNEWS.com was the fastest growing news site on the Web and provided 24-hour comprehensive coverage of international, national and local news, as well as sports, entertainment, business, technology, science and health reporting.

The site had received many awards including the 1998 Excellence in Software Awards, 1998 Webby for "Best News Site" and 1998 Real Networks' Streamers Award for "Best Online Newsroom." ABC Internet Group was part of the Buena Vista Internet Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company.

Lycos Does Starr Report & Record Traffic September 1998

Lycos, the second most visited hub/portal on the Internet at the time took several crucial measures to prepare for the huge consumer interest surrounding the release of Kenneth Starr's report to Congress. The Starr Report and related information attracted record-breaking Internet traffic. Lycos' (http://www.lycos.com) extensive infrastructure enabled it to quickly and efficiently handle the surge in Internet traffic. Lycos took the following actions:

• Lycos posted a duplicate of Kenneth Starr's report to Congress on the Lycos site http://www.lycos.com.
• Lycos hosted a special online chat session at 2 p.m. EST on September 11, to discuss the implications of the release of the report. All users were welcome to join through Lycos. Lycos also posted information about the impeachment process.
• Lycos' functionality for dealing with high-traffic news had already been proven in the summer when President Clinton addressed the nation on August 17th and traffic spiked in the Web guide areas of Lycos by over 125%.