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> My questions are who made these 50 million hits at CNN? And what were their
> motivations? 

Well, first divide that number by some factor to account for all the 
graphics that got pulled down. I don't know how many graphics they 
had up, but let's be conservative and say five per page. So right 
there you're down to 10 million users and even that is way high 
because it assumes each one of those users called up just one page 
and then left the site.

Then factor in the "gotta-know" people who probably hit the site 
again and again and again (I got a message from one guy who kept 
checking my site to see when I'd finally colored in S.C. and a couple 
of other states).

In summary: hit counts, while impressive, don't tell you how many 
people actually visited the site (although, 50 million hits in 
general is an awesome number; but it's about what Netscape claims it 
gets every day on its site).

> Another point (related to the AJR article "Net Gain"): what does this say
> about the idea that everyone is a journalist?  Not everyone has CNNs ability
> to collect so much information, synthesize and make it available. 

Think Globally, Act Locally, to cite a cliche.  If you know CNN, 
PoliticsNow, etc., are going to do national numbers anyway, why 
compete? Instead, set up a town or even neighborhood site and 
whale the hell out of local races, something CNN won't/can't do. 
The first numbers I got from Brookline, Mass., were from some 
political junkie who went down to Town Hall for the counting of 
the vote (in some towns around here, that's quite a festive 
occasion), then put them on the town site he runs.  Now add to that 
somebody with writing ability to do some commentary and you've got 
*the* place to go for Brookline election info. Now set up a regional 
association of community-based Webmasters who agree to exchange such 
info on election night and all of a sudden you've got the potential 
for decent competition to traditional media outlets, at least for 
that one night.

-- Adam


Adam Gaffin
Online Editor, Network World
agaffin@nww.com / (508) 820-7433
"So, in 1996, CD-ROMs through Federal Express will
emerge as the information superhighway." - Bob Metcalfe
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