<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

‘Snowmageddon’ drew many eyes to columbian.com

The Columbian
Published:

Most-viewed stories in 2014 on columbian.com

Feb. 6: Man dies in massive I-5 accident (75,698 page views).

July 9: Missing Camas teen found safe (56,266).

Aug. 19: New developments in ‘Joe Biden defense’ case (56,192).

June 30: Police officer in critical condition after shooting (50,309).

Oct. 31: Shooter found dead in Blandford Canyon; 1 victim critical (48,025).

April 26: Celebrity quack moms are a terrible influence (38,328).

Sept. 25: Vancouver police capture homicide suspect (32,429).

May 2: State posts list of marijuana retailers (31,197).

Aug. 16: Vancouver man dies, five others hurt, in morning crash (25,557).

Feb. 3: Two dead in Vancouver workplace shooting (24,041).

Main story

Our top stories of 2014

Last year’s most-viewed story on columbian.com didn’t hit until Dec. 26, when we published a story about a lost roll of film we had found a few weeks earlier. It was shot in April 1980 by the late Reid Blackburn, a staff photographer who died when Mount St. Helens erupted that May 18.

This year’s biggest story on the website arrived much earlier.

On Feb. 6 a storm dubbed by Twitter users as “#Snowmageddon” gripped the region, leading to a massive traffic accident on Interstate 5 that killed one man.

Thousands of people returned to the story for updates on the storm, the traffic and to share their stories by leaving comments on the article, which became a forum of sorts.

Most-viewed stories in 2014 on columbian.com

Feb. 6: Man dies in massive I-5 accident (75,698 page views).

July 9: Missing Camas teen found safe (56,266).

Aug. 19: New developments in 'Joe Biden defense' case (56,192).

June 30: Police officer in critical condition after shooting (50,309).

Oct. 31: Shooter found dead in Blandford Canyon; 1 victim critical (48,025).

April 26: Celebrity quack moms are a terrible influence (38,328).

Sept. 25: Vancouver police capture homicide suspect (32,429).

May 2: State posts list of marijuana retailers (31,197).

Aug. 16: Vancouver man dies, five others hurt, in morning crash (25,557).

Feb. 3: Two dead in Vancouver workplace shooting (24,041).

Many readers commented on the story as they sat for hours in the ensuing traffic jams. Others commented after taking detours on side roads, then sharing their success stories, or lack thereof, with others reading the story.

Other breaking news stories enjoyed similar success this year, such as the missing Camas teen who was found safe July 9, the police officer who survived being shot at a traffic stop on June 30 and the shooting of a Vancouver woman on Halloween morning by her next-door neighbor.

Of course, no one is surprised such tales of mayhem and tragedy attract readers. That’s been the pattern since news was first posted on the Web.

What is surprising is when we see lots of people around the country reading a story about a court case over an alleged illegal discharge of a firearm.

That’s exactly what happened on Aug. 19, when Jeffrey C. Barton of Vancouver used the so-called “Joe Biden defense” to argue that he was merely defending his property from car prowlers by firing hit shotgun into the air.

The story gained national attention and even became a segment on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” But most of our readers, about 7 out of 10, came from the Drudge Report, which had linked to our story.

Another surprise hit on columbian.com also got a boost from another site: Google News. The article in question was a Slate story that derided a surge of books by celebrity moms offering tips and tales on motherhood. We picked it up off the wire and posted it, where nearly 60 percent of our readers found it from Google News.

The legalization of marijuana was one of the few stories to appear both on our Web most-read list and our list of Top 10 stories as voted on by the newsroom.

On May 2, the state released its list of marijuana retailers in the area and around the state. Our story included an interactive map and a link to a spreadsheet with the list, both big draws for return visits by readers.

Loading...