MEDIA ALERT/ The Lycos 50 for Week Ending January 29, 2000; The Super Bowl Edges the IRS, Valentine's Day Charges Ahead

Business Wire, Feb 1, 2000

Business/Technology Editors and Entertainment Writers

WALTHAM, Mass.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2000

The following information is from The Lycos 50(TM), the 50 most popular user searches for the week ending January 29, 2000. For a complete list of The Lycos 50 (TM) and for in-depth text of The Lycos 50 Daily Report, go to http://50.lycos.com.

The Lycos 50(TM) Top 10 Search Terms For The Week Ending Jan. 29, 2000

1) Pokemon                            6) IRS
2) Britney Spears                     7) Pamela Anderson
3) Dragonball Z                       8) Valentine's Day
4) WWF                                9) Backstreet Boys
5) Super Bowl                        10) Poetry

Notes of Interest:

Holidays are a hit on The Lycos 50. Valentine's Day debuts at number eight on this week's list. About 16 percent of all Valentine's Day searches were for Valentine gifts while other hot topics included Valentine crafts, cards and poems. Meanwhile, a major unofficial American holiday, Super Bowl Sunday, made an even bigger splash with users. Football fans pushed the Super Bowl from nowhere to number six overall. The surge also moved the NFL up to number 15.

Hottest Rising Star:

Prom Dresses, now in its third week on The Lycos 50, is still rising. When the topic made its debut two weeks ago at number 25, we figured this was a flash in the pan. Now, we found it's quite a big deal, with queries for prom hairstyles, prom themes and decorations also on the rise.

Biggest Rise:

Jenny McCarthy, actress/goofball, is up eight spots to number 34.

Biggest Drop:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., drops 32 places to number 39.

About Lycos

Founded in 1995, Lycos, Inc. is a leading Web media company and owner of the Lycos Network, one of the most visited hubs on the Internet reaching nearly one out of every two U.S. Web users. The Lycos Network is a unified set of Web sites that attracts a diverse audience by offering a variety of services, including leading Web navigation resources, homepage building and other Web community services and a comprehensive shopping center. The Lycos Network is composed of premium sites: Lycos.com, Tripod, WhoWhere, Angelfire, MailCity, HotBot, HotWired, Wired News, Webmonkey, Suck.com, Sonique, Lycos Zone, Quote.com and Gamesville.com. Lycos.com (http://www.lycos.com), &uot;Your Personal Internet Guide,&uot; is dedicated to helping each individual user locate, retrieve and manage information tailored to his or her personal interests. Headquartered near Boston, in Waltham, Mass., Lycos, Inc. is a global Internet leader with a major presence throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.

(c) 2000 Lycos, Inc. - Lycos (R) is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Lycos or their respective owners. All rights reserved.