CINCINNATI, Ohio (July 8, 2005)  - The blogging world was dominated Friday by discussions of Thursday's terrorist bombings in London, matching or exceeding the discussion that followed the December 2004 tsunami in Southern Asia, according to Intelliseek's BlogPulse.com.

Thirty-six (90%) of the top 40 links shared most frequently by bloggers, and more than 90% of the phrases they used in their discussions, related to the four explosions that killed at least 50 and wounded more than 700 people in London Thursday morning. The attacks took place in three London subway stations and on a double-decker bus.

BlogPulse.com has identified more than 13.5 million blogs for daily analysis of key issues, trends and personalities.

The phrases used most commonly by bloggers were, in order, "London bombings," "London blasts," "terrorist attacks on London," "London explosions" and "London attacks." Other top phrases included "morning rush hour," "tube stations" and "Scotland Yard."

"As with the tsunami, bloggers played an unprecedented role in reporting, spreading and keeping the news alive," said Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Intelliseek, which owns BlogPulse. “Much of the coverage by on-site bloggers was sincere, real, and unscripted, as were their on-the-scene photos and videos shot from camera phones."

Among key personalities, British Prime Minister Tony Blair emerged as the most-discussed person, while eyewitness Belinda Seabrook, interviewed by a British news agency, was BlogPulse's "burstiest" person, meaning she moved from obscurity into the spotlight overnight. Other key newsmakers included London Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, London Mayor Ken Livingstone and British Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

British news agencies ranked well, too. Ten of the top 40 news links (25%) shared among bloggers involved BBC coverage of the bombings, with London's The Guardian and its live blog capturing three of the top 40 links. The BBC, in fact, captured nearly half (17 of 40) of the individual news stories cited most frequently.

Wikipedia, a collaborative online encyclopedia maintained and updated by volunteer contributors, ranked third among most-shared links at BlogPulse.com, while Yahoo’s FlickR “Image Pool,” which allowed users to post photos of the bombing scenes, ranked No. 11.

Buzz about London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympics and the opening of the G8 summit in Scotland dropped dramatically. The phrase “opening of G8 summit” ranked No. 27 among key phrases and "2012 Olympic bid" was No. 40.

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