Wednesday 8 October 2008

Web traffic jam as people search for financial news

The financial crisis has people flocking to the Internet for the latest money news along with tips on how to salvage investments and s
ave on the routine costs of living.

Visits to websites such as the business-centric Wall Street Journal and economy-focused Yahoo Finance set new records as the US Congress grappled with a 700 billion dollar plan to stop credit markets from imploding.

Internet tracker comScore says visits to www.gasbuddy.com, which steers drivers to stations featuring low fuel prices, are up nearly 30 percent and it expects to report spikes in traffic to finance and bargain-hunter websites when September statistics are calculated later this week.

"Investment pages are just red hot right now with people wanting to know what is going on with stocks," Yahoo Finance general manager Mark Interrante told media. "We have been impressed by the traffic. People are not just diving down into stocks but asking what is going on, how it affects them and where it is all going."

Activity is up 40 percent at Yahoo Finance message boards where people chat virtually about cash, finance and other personal money matters and the website's Tech Ticker video news program is getting millions of daily visitors.

"The editorial team at Tech Ticker is working around the clock to find the right stories for people to understand the crisis," Interrante said. "This is going to be a record month for us."

Yahoo Finance stock quotes and other features popular in the United States began being rolled out Tuesday at the California firm's websites in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Britain.

"We prelaunched a couple of pages in France and got very positive customer feedback and moved forward with the rest of Europe," Interrante said. "You will see a lot more stuff rolling out in Europe in the next six weeks."

Google queries regarding "stocks" nearly tripled in September, according to data posted this week at the Internet search king's website that tracks trends in what people seek online.

US-based Akamai Technologies, which handles online traffic for major news outlets such as NBC and the BBC, reports visits to the websites surged to record levels as dramatic events played out in money markets.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported an unprecedented two million visitors in a single day.

Sorce: EconomicTimes

Posted by Harsh at 23:20

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