Payment and Entertainment

Significant differences were found among The Lycos 50 for the week ending April 19, 2003 and the Yahoo! Buzz Index for the week ending April 20, 2003. While searches for “IRS” and “Internal Revenue Service” dominated both lists, the remainder represents two vastly different user groups.

Noticeably absent from the Yahoo! Index were the week’s most prominent holidays — “Easter” and “Passover” — and any references to the war in Iraq, with searches for entertainment and sports taking precedence over current events. Two notable exceptions were “SARS” at number 2, and “Laci Peterson” debuting at number 8.

The Yahoo! Index exclusively claimed:

• “PlayStation 2” at number 9
• “The Masters” at number 11
• “Linkin Park” at number 13
• “R. Kelly,” number 14
• “Nelly,” number 15
• “Sean Paul” at number 20

Rounding out the top 20 on the Lycos list were also some exclusive searches that were not found on the Yahoo! Index:

• “Easter,” number 2
• “Tattoos,” number 5
• “Dragonball,” number 6
• “Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf” and “Iraq War,” numbers 7 and 8 respectively
• “Pamela Anderson,” number 12
• “Las Vegas,” number 15
• “Atkins Diet” at number 16
• “The Matrix Reloaded” at number 18
• “Prom Hairstyles,” number 19
• “NFL,” number 20

The Lycos list marked some debuts, along with search terms that were making a re-appearance:

• Murder victim, “Laci Peterson,” was ranked 14^th
• “Coffin birth” — a baby born from a dead woman — ranked 28^th
• “X2: X-Men United,” claimed spot 31
• “Passover” — number 36
• “Neopets” at number 39
• “NFL Draft” took position 43
• “Evanescence,” number 46
• “Anna Kournikova,” back at number 48
• “B2K” — number 50

Check out how the search terms have changed over time:

War and Basketball
Touchdowns, Taxes, and Tragedy
Searches Mostly Entertainment-Related
Virus Becomes Most Popular
Debut of a Salesman
Dragonball Rolls Into First Place
World Cup Kicks Star Wars Out of Space