Lycos Announces the Most Popular Internet Search Terms of 2007 and the Ones to Watch in 2008

POKER Trumps all Other Search Topics to Top Lycos Year-End List for 2nd

Consecutive Year

SADDAM HUSSEIN EXECUTION, Most-Searched News Event of 2007; "DANCING WITH

THE STARS," Top TV Show; "TRANSFORMERS," Top Film

BRITNEY SPEARS, Most-Searched Woman, CLAY AIKEN Web's Most Wanted Man

TMZ, Most Popular Blog Site

    WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Lycos Inc. (www.lycos.com), a
 leading provider of social publishing, media and search services, today
 announced its 8th annual list of top 50 search terms for the year 2007,
 based on The Lycos 50(TM), a weekly list of the most popular people, places
 and things Lycos users search for every day. The Lycos 50 Top Search Terms
 of 2007 list is based on Lycos user searches from Jan. 1, 2007 through Dec.
 1, 2007. For a complete list of The Lycos 50 Top Search Terms of 2007 and
 for in-depth text of The Lycos 50 Daily Report, go to http://50.lycos.com.
 Readers of The Lycos 50 can also share their thoughts on this year's list
 on The Lycos 50 Blog located at The Lycos 50 Blog.
 
 

     The Lycos 50 Top 10 Search Terms for 2007 are:
     1) Poker                        6) YouTube
     2) MySpace                      7) Naruto
     3) Britney Spears               8) Disney
     4) Paris Hilton                 9) Pokemon
     5) Golf                        10) WWE
     For the second year in a row, Poker draws the top spot, generating more
 search activity with Lycos users in 2007 than any other search term.
 Propelled by the continued success of the World Poker Tour and numerous
 televised celebrity poker tournaments, online interest in Poker dominates
 Lycos's search logs week after week. Even the headline-grabbing tabloid
 antics of Britney Spears were unable to topple Poker from the number one
 spot on this year's list. Britney does however reign supreme among the
 most- searched women of 2007, generating more searches than Paris Hilton,
 Pamela Anderson and Anna Nicole Smith. Two newcomers to the Lycos 50 Top
 Search List of 2007 are Disney's "High School Musical" star Vanessa Hudgens
 and "American Idol" contestant, Antonella Barba. While each gained a good
 deal of attention from their television face time in 2007, it was the
 individual nude photo scandals that drove search interest in the young
 starlets over the top. Despite the Hudgens' debacle, the "High School
 Musical" juggernaut, combined with "Hannah Montana" mania helped to propel
 Disney to achieve all-star search status in 2007, making The Lycos 50
 Year-End list for the first time ever.
 
     Hugely popular web sites had big showings this year, including the
 premiere destination to view all things video, YouTube, which jumps into
 the top 10 on the Lycos 50 Top Search Terms of 2007, quadrupling in search
 popularity over the past year. Facebook also makes its debut at number 27
 on the Lycos 50 list of Top Search terms of 2007, jumping 200 percent in
 search popularity compared to this time last year. But it was MySpace that
 consistently delivered high volumes of search activity weekly, generating
 55 percent more search interest than YouTube, making it the second most
 popular search term overall in 2007, behind Poker. Meanwhile, gossip blog
 TMZ.com bumped Perez Hilton from the top spot, generating more searches
 than all other blog sites with Lycos users in 2007.
 
     In the television world, "Dancing with the Stars" waltzed into the
 hearts of TV viewers and web users alike in 2007, knocking "American Idol"
 to the number two most-searched television show this year. Behind the
 scenes drama involving several of the dancing stars, including Marie Osmond
 fainting on live television, helped to drive online interest in the ABC hit
 show. This year's top TV list also sees the debut of several new shows
 including "Hannah Montana," Gossip Girl," "Heroes" and "Entourage," while
 popular animated series like "South Park," Family Guy," and "The Simpsons"
 fail to make the 2007 list of top TV shows. This also marks the first time
 since 2000 that "The Simpsons" and "South Park" do not appear on the Lycos
 50 year-end list of top TV shows.
 
     From the small screen to the big screen, "Transformers" is the top film
 of 2007 with Lycos users, followed by a list of movie sequels including
 "Pirates of the Caribbean 3," "High School Musical 2," "Spider-Man 3" and
 "Ocean's 13." And while the male stars of the big screen generate mega
 headlines offline, Clay Aiken continues to be the leading man online with
 web users, taking the top spot as the most-searched man of 2007 for the
 second year in a row. Rappers dominate the list of top men in 2007,
 including Tupac Shakur and 50 Cent who reemerge on this year's list after
 fading in 2006. However, notably absent from the list of most-searched men
 in 2007 is Howard Stern. While Stern consistently ranks number one as the
 most popular talk radio personality with web users year after year, this
 marks the first time Stern has failed to generate enough online interest to
 make the year-end list of top search terms.
 
     The biggest news story of 2007, based on web search activity, was the
 Execution of Saddam Hussein. While many traditional news organizations
 refused to air footage of the actual hanging death of the former Iraqi
 President, video of the execution ultimately surfaced online, sending web
 users scouring the Internet in search of Hussein's hanging. Web users also
 appeared far more interested in the debut of Apple's iPhone and the Michael
 Vick Dog-Fighting Scandal in 2007, than the War in Iraq, which failed to
 make the list of top news events for the third consecutive year.
 
     The Ones to Watch in 2008:
 
     The following terms had strong showings in 2007, and based on growing
 search queries, The Lycos 50 predicts these are the ones to watch in 2008.
 From the political stage, the terms 2008 Presidential Election, along with
 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Ron Paul, and
 the environmentally conscious term, Going Green are expected to rise
 significantly in the coming months. The 2008 movies already generating buzz
 online are highly-anticipated films based on popular TV series and sequels
 including Batman: the Dark Knight, Sex and the City movie, X-Files movie,
 Cloverfield, Indiana Jones 4, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and
 Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Also look for TV and film actors Seth Rogan,
 Michael Cera, Jenna Fischer, Miley Cyrus, and Christian Bale to put up big
 search numbers in the coming year. Television shows predicted to score hits
 online in 2008 include "LOST," "American Idol," "Survivor" and "30 Rock,"
 while from the music scene, OneRepublic will rock web users. In the video
 game space, expect to see titles like Guitar Hero 3, Grand Theft Auto IV,
 Spore, Mario Kart, Halo Wars, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl lead the way in
 record sales. Elsewhere in digital products, look for Pleo (robotic
 dinosaur toy), Digital TVs, and the iPhone/iTouch to increase in popularity
 in 2008. And from the Internet space, Facebook will continue to heat up
 along with the explosive growth of online video content, particularly
 YouTube political/parody ads.
 
 

     Top 10 Women of 2007:
     1) Britney Spears              6) Antonella Barba
     2) Paris Hilton                7) Beyonce
     3) Pamela Anderson             8) Lindsay Lohan
     4) Anna Nicole Smith           9) Trish Status
     5) Vanessa Hudgens            10) Shakira
 
     Top 10 Men of 2007:
     1) Clay Aiken                  6) Chris Brown
     2) Tupac Shakur                7) Zac Efron
     3) Nelly                       8) Eminem
     4) Akon                        9) Justin Timberlake
     5) 50 Cent                    10) Bow Wow
 
     Top 10 Films of 2007:
     1) Transformers                6) Superbad
     2) Pirates of the Caribbean 3  7) Knocked Up
     3) High School Musical 2       8) Beowolf
     4) Spider-Man 3                9) Ocean's 13
     5) Borat                      10) 3:10 to Yuma
 
     Top News Stories of 2007:
     1) Sadaam Hussein Execution    6) Al Jazeera
     2) Iran Conflict               7) Gas Prices
     3) Pakistan Conflict           8) Illegal Immigration
     4) Global Warming              9) Michael Vick Dog-Fighting Scandal
     5) Debut of iPhone            10) North Korea Nuclear Situation
 
     Top 10 Blog Sites of 2007:
     1) TMZ                         6) Engadget
     2) Perez Hilton                7) PostSecret
     3) Kotaku                      8) Daily Kos
     4) Huffington Post             9) Gizmodo
     5) Pink is the New Blog       10) Defamer
 
     Top Fads of 2007:
     1) Poker                       6) Harry Potter
     2) MySpace                     7) South Beach Diet
     3) YouTube                     8) Webkinz
     4) RuneScape                   9) The Sims
     5) Facebook                   10) Neopets
 
     Top Television Shows of 2007:
     1) Dancing With the Stars      6) Heroes
     2) American Idol               7) CSI
     3) Hannah Montana              8) Gossip Girl
     4) Lost                        9) The Office
     5) Prison Break               10) Entourage
 
     Top 10 Bands of 2007:
     1) Green Day                   6) Rolling Stones
     2) Pussycat Dolls              7) Evanescence
     3) Fall Out Boy                8) Black Eyed Peas
     4) Nickelback                  9) All American Rejects
     5) Guns N Roses               10) The Fray
 
     Top 10 Sports Stars of 2007:
     1) Anna Kournikova             6) Michelle Wie
     2) Maria Sharapova             7) Barry Bonds
     3) Cristiano Rinaldo           8) Lucas Neill
     4) Tiger Woods                 9) Lance Armstrong
     5) Danica Patrick             10) Tom Brady
     About Lycos, Inc.
 
     Lycos, Inc. (www.lycos.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daum
 Communications Corp., a leading Internet portal and e-commerce destination
 in Korea with a growing presence throughout the Asian markets. Lycos, Inc.
 operates search and technology web sites that foster online communities,
 including the new Lycos Cinema and SparkCast video platforms, combining
 community with high-quality broadband video content. Other Lycos products
 and sites include Lycos.com, Hotbot.com, Tripod.com, Angelfire.com,
 Gamesville.com, Lycos Mail and The Lycos 50(TM). Lycos was acquired by
 Korean Daum Communications Corp. in October 2004 and has its U.S.
 headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. Daum Communications Corp. is traded
 on the KOSDAQ: 035720, www.daum.net.
 
     (C)2007 Lycos, Inc. Lycos(R) is a registered trademark of Lycos, Inc.
 All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Daum
 Communications Corp., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights
 reserved.
 
 
 

SOURCE Lycos Inc.