the buzz log
Think of the Kids: Watching a Reality Family Break-Up
No intervention, no on-camera psychotherapy couch sessions. For the couple behind TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8," the ampersand will be removed. But what about the kids?
Not the Plus 8, Cara, Mady, Alexis, Hannah, Aaden, Collin, Leah, and Joel. We're talking about the kids in the audience. After all, this is (was) a family show that started off when the twins turned six and the rest were toddlers. What youngster wouldn't find appealing the notion of multiples of oneself running about (even if they didn't look exactly like you)?
Before the first of the tabloid reports broke in early March, kids under 13 made up 23% of the reality series' searches on Yahoo!—nearly a quarter. While dad Jon Gosselin (tellingly) didn't get many Web lookups, supermom Kate Gosselin got her share (14%) of queries from pre-teens and younger.
Now, nearly four months later and a broken family later, their proportion has dropped to 7% of people looking up the show. By the way, that percentage is pretty close to their share (8%) of stomach-twisting "jon and kate divorce" look-ups.
The lower numbers probably don't mean the original young fans stopped following the Gosselins online. They simply got swamped by all the adults who tuned in to monitor the downfall. Basically, the kids got lost in the shuffle, but they're still there, watching.
Filed under: TV, Reality TV, Divorce, Kids
June Glossies
Is the to-read pile of June magazines clogging your inbox? A few periodicals celebrate their anniversaries this month... just in case you need an excuse to wallow in the pleasures of the slickly printed word. Whet the appetite by reading some features online.
Gastric Guzzlers
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Budget Magazine has gone UGC: user-generated content. With the exception of one feature, every tip comes from a regular Joe, including a state-by-state gastronomical tour of "America's Favorite Restaurants." Speaking of insiders, Coastal Living gets a native son to talk about Waikiki. If you're traveling abroad, Conde Nast Traveler tells you not to twirl your pasta in its etiquette guide.
Corraling the Round-Ups
Wired magazine is another birthday boy. The grown-up geek hits 15, and celebrates by hitting the carbon issue. Naturally, there must be one shamed trip down memory lane, and the issue reminisces gear lust gone bad. In another round-up, Rolling Stone puts Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" first in its list of top 100 guitar songs… guitar hero wannabes, take note.
Emo Under Fire and Other Stories
Glossy covers usually belie magazines' investigative features, but dig deep and you'll find pieces like Blender's Mexican world of emo racism. Elle magazine explores how some organizers are trying to change some states' surprisingly stringent divorce laws. New York Magazine shows how one woman made her case on YouTube, and Glamour follows some women's descent into "mortgage hell."
Other slick June must-reads...
Michael Jordan, Back on the Buzz Court
According to The Times of London, basketball great Michael Jordan has settled divorce proceedings with his ex-wife, Juanita. The final deal? A record $168 million, a slam dunk of celebrity splits.
Some Windy City writers seized the moment to rhapsodize about the legendary Bulls star. But not everyone was buying it. At least one sports columnist rejected the claim—and felt a little miffed that a Brit broke the news, too.
Regardless of the statement's truthiness, the story alone was enough to boost buzz on "His Airness." Over the past week, searches for his pictures leapt 1,597%. Demand for his ever-popular shoes jumped. And queries for his name more than doubled.
A mammoth amount of money isn't the only thing passing the NBA champ up the Search chart. Before the divorce news hit, Jordan's son Jeffrey made his college debut on the court. Just the idea of another Jordan playing hoops scored "jeffrey jordan" a 2,051% rise. Demand for his brother Marcus and his mom also surged. For that moment, the entire family hung in the upper reaches of Buzz, in true Air Jordan style.
Filed under: Basketball, NBA, Divorce
Lifestyles of the Rich and Evangelical
Heath and Michelle have split. Shaq and Shaunie are divorcing. And buzz is popping for both celebri-couples. Yet, the broken hearts igniting the most sizzle in Search aren't stars of the screen or the court, but those of the pulpit.
Paula and Randy White, founders of Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Florida, are untying the knot. They announced the dissolution of their 18-year marriage on August 23—and kicked up a buzz storm. Led primarily by southern states, searches for "randy and paula white," "paula white ministries," and "randy and paula white divorce" leapt. Over the past week, "paula white divorce" topped all "divorce" searches, leaving the marital failings of other big names, like Paula Zahn and Kobe Bryant, in the dust.
Pastor Paula's buzz-touch doesn't stop there. The blonde preacher had established a ministry partnership with Bishop Rick Hawkins and the Family Praise Center in San Antonio, Texas. We don't know if there's anything more to the relationship, but their flocks have flown to the Web to find out. Both "rick hawkins" and "bishop rick hawkins divorce" surged recently.
Meanwhile, evangelist Juanita Bynum's violent encounter with estranged hubby Bishop Thomas Weeks continues to draw buzz online. Over the past week, searches for "juanita bynum assault pictures" rose 3,186%. Queries like "juanita bynum weeks divorce," "juanita bynum news," and "juanita bynum beaten" have also stayed strong. We'll rest easier when the bishops leave the buzz to the pros—and let the celebs back in on the game.
Filed under: Divorce
The Facts on Divorce
—Searches on divorce are up 23% over the last month.
—Interestingly, there's no battle of the sexes when it comes to divorce searches. 52% of the queries come from women, leaving 48% for dudes. What lovely harmony.
—Divorce searches skew older, with the 35-44 age bracket accounting for one-third of all searches on splits.
—Where are the divorce searches coming from? The Rocky Mountains must be responsible for rocky relationships—Denver leads metros searching on divorce. DC and Philly round out the top three metros.
—We checked on this week's top 20 celebrity divorce searches. Some are mere rumors, while others are heartbreakingly true...
Filed under: Divorce
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
For more detailed information, visit our FAQ.