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Top 10 most popular articles of 2010
April 8, 2010
By
Stuart A. Thompson
Every semester, we take a look at unique hits to the website and see which articles registered the most. Below you’ll find our list for the second semester. You can also see the top posts from first semester.
10. Coulter’s campus visit stirs controversy
An obvious hot-button issue, it’s no surprise that this first story about Coulter’s appearance graced the 10 top list. We also got a number of letters and comments about it.
Read it here.
9. Editor mouths off on Meals for 3
Our USC election coverage was unprecedented this year and it really found its feet online. This column about Marshall Goldfarb’s impossible $3 meal idea was written by Senior Editor Michael Hayes. He ripped on Goldfarb for the idea and the “feasibility report,” which apparently proved that you could break even by selling 1,000 meals every week. CLTs don’t see that kind of movement and it’s the most popular menu item on campus. Fail.
Read the column.8. It’s really embarrassing
Articles serving a targeted group have more success online, it seems. Likely because readers that are affected are more eager to share it on Facebook and Twitter or email it to friends. This article about laptop policy struck a cord with individuals who feel embarrassed when they have to use it for a disability. Posting it online came with the added bonus of skipping the deck…
Read it here.7. Facebook threats made against students
Any time you mention Israel and/or Palestine in an article, you’re bound to get lots of letters, comments and attention. This was no exception. The comments exploded online and quickly became unmanageable, so we
closed them.
Read the article here.6. Five questions with USC presidential candidates
Again with the USC coverage, this time with videos. I sat down with all the candidates for a Q&A, which focussed on both their personalities and their platforms. The mix got a lot of attention, but what really took off was a video featuring all the candidates singing the Western song (or trying to). Hilarious, really.
See them here.5. Sex Survey Results
In years past, we put a survey in the Gazette and printed the results. End of story. This year, we put the survey online too. The result? About seven submissions in print. Over 400 online. What does that tell you about how the Gazette should operate?
See the results.4. Gazette editors take candidates to task
Another USC election article, this was our second annual analysis piece. We ripped into candidates and applauded them where appropriate. Opinion is always more interesting to read than hard news stories and, in cases like this, get through the boring long-winded stuff and cut right to the chase.
Read the analysis here.3. “Think Rich, Look Poor”
This fashion article by photographer Nicole Venegas gained a big following. There’s an interesting history here. There was an article about this event that appeared in print. Around the same time, Nicole submitted this blog. Editors were confused and wanted to delete the blog because it “conflicted with the print version.” In the end, the print version barely registered hits while the blog — filled with a photo gallery — soared in hits.
Read the blog.2. Tithecott Takes It
This article about Mike Tithecott’s election victory soared in views partly because we posted it within an hour of hearing the results. This breaking news found an audience on Twitter right away, but continued to see hits over reading week because it was advertised in the slider during that time.
Read the article.
1. What happened to the Gazette?
This opinion piece about the tone and style of the Gazette caught an unusual following. Students came out of the woodworks to support the idea that the paper has been muzzled for years, guided by letter-writer and scrutinizers more than editors. I never made an explicit judgement about the Gazette’s tone (actually I lean toward a more serious publication than most) but asked students if what we had was what they really wanted. In print, we had enough letters to publish two opinion pages and most of them were in support.
Read the column.
Follow the Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.
Stuart is the Editor-in-Chief for Volume 104 of the Gazette. He can be reached at stuart@westerngazette.ca. He was the news and web editor for Volume 103. He graduated with an honours BA in media, information and technoculture in 2010 and holds a certificate in writing and a diploma in journalism. Stuart can also be found on Twitter at www.twitter.com/StuartAtGazette.
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