20 December
2006 Chatmag News.
Each year, Chatmag
compiles an annual list of the most popular Internet discussion topics.
The rankings are determined by the frequency of topic terms gathered from
search statistics within the Chatmag directory.
For 2006, Politics
was the most searched term. The mid term elections in the United States
was the focus of discussion.
The ongoing conflict
in the Middle East, with Arabic, Iraqi, and Iranian chat rooms together
held second place.
A short-lived
but International topic was the untimely death of Steve Irwin, known as
th Crocodile Hunter. Chatmag was one of the first US news sites to
carry the report of his death, and views to the Steve Irwin topic was the
largest three day increase in traffic for the year, yet overall, his death
comes in third.
The series, "To
Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC rose to fourth after the suicide of Louis
Conradt, in Texas.
Inuyasha and Anime
is fifth. BBW, big beautiful women chat rooms stands at sixth, and remains
in the top ten each year.
Harry Potter slipped
to seventh from second place in 2005, due to the uptick in political discussions.
Children, and
teen chat rooms, while primarily on MySpace and Instant Messaging programs,
is once again in the top ten at eighth. This category excludes the Harry
Potter topic.
The color barrier
continues to be broken, African American chat rooms went from fourth in
2005 to ninth. Without the spike in the Steve Irwin death, African American
would come in at fifth.
At tenth, Asia
predominates, and excluding China, is comprised of Bangladesh, India and
Pakistani chats.
The complete list
of Discussions, by popularity:
1. Politics.
2. Middle East,
including Arabic, Iraq and Iran.
3. Death of Steve
Irwin.
4. Dateline NBC
Series, "To Catch a Predator".
5. Inuyasha,
Anime TV series.
6. BBW, Big Beautiful
Women.
7. Harry Potter.
8. Children and
Teen chat.
9. African American
and Interracial.
10. Bangladesh,
India and Pakistan.
--Peter J. Carr,
Chatmag Publisher--
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