Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
In time of flu citizens turn to virtual world
Shambhavi Anand, TNN 31 August 2009, 01:17am IST
PUNE: As the H1N1 panic continues to keep Puneites away from the city streets and the malls and multiplexes, most have found another interesting
place to hang out, the virtual world, the internet.
For the past few weeks now, the internet has been buzzing with queries about the flu. Even popular social networking sites have various discussion boards and awareness fora on the H1N1 flu. Some of them have more than 400 groups and communities.
Anil Kumar, manager of a website dedicated to spreading awareness about the H1N1 influenza said, "There was an exponential growth in the number of visits to our sites specially after the first few deaths. There were 36,000+ page views, and 15,000+ new visitors, a growth of 2,266.52% in internet traffic volumes in just a couple of days. The traffic is still continuing."
Arun Kumar, spokesperson of another website dedicated to swine flu, said, "Over all, we have received over 2.75 lakh page views just this month."
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that being one of the most reliable sources of information, their website received several peaks during the crisis. "Though the number of hits are not important for us, we have to update our site two to three times in a day, which is more frequent than usual," wrote Jane Wallace, media manager of WHO, in a mail sent to TOI.
Even the users say that they found internet convenient and reliable source of information. Vatayana of the Osho international meditation resort says, "Internet provides reliable information about the virus. Every bit of information that one needs to know is there on the internet. If people make it point to read through them there will be less of panic."
Priti Payal, a college student said, "I was suffering from flu a few days ago. Some of my friends said I had H1N1 influenza and should visit one of the screening centres. But I thought it was risky to go there, so I surfed the internet and found it really useful. While the media disseminated a lot of information, the detailed and accurate information was available only on the internet. I went through websites like WHO and CDC (Centres for Disease Control)."
Website managers are putting in a lot of effort to make the sites user-friendly and interactive. Said Arun, "We have enabled commenting on the website and are receiving messages from panic stricken people. Our site also has a discussion board so that doctors can interact with them directly. A number of doctors have taken interest in the site and are voluntarily answering questions of our readers."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4952316.cms
Shambhavi Anand, TNN 31 August 2009, 01:17am IST
PUNE: As the H1N1 panic continues to keep Puneites away from the city streets and the malls and multiplexes, most have found another interesting
place to hang out, the virtual world, the internet.
For the past few weeks now, the internet has been buzzing with queries about the flu. Even popular social networking sites have various discussion boards and awareness fora on the H1N1 flu. Some of them have more than 400 groups and communities.
Anil Kumar, manager of a website dedicated to spreading awareness about the H1N1 influenza said, "There was an exponential growth in the number of visits to our sites specially after the first few deaths. There were 36,000+ page views, and 15,000+ new visitors, a growth of 2,266.52% in internet traffic volumes in just a couple of days. The traffic is still continuing."
Arun Kumar, spokesperson of another website dedicated to swine flu, said, "Over all, we have received over 2.75 lakh page views just this month."
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that being one of the most reliable sources of information, their website received several peaks during the crisis. "Though the number of hits are not important for us, we have to update our site two to three times in a day, which is more frequent than usual," wrote Jane Wallace, media manager of WHO, in a mail sent to TOI.
Even the users say that they found internet convenient and reliable source of information. Vatayana of the Osho international meditation resort says, "Internet provides reliable information about the virus. Every bit of information that one needs to know is there on the internet. If people make it point to read through them there will be less of panic."
Priti Payal, a college student said, "I was suffering from flu a few days ago. Some of my friends said I had H1N1 influenza and should visit one of the screening centres. But I thought it was risky to go there, so I surfed the internet and found it really useful. While the media disseminated a lot of information, the detailed and accurate information was available only on the internet. I went through websites like WHO and CDC (Centres for Disease Control)."
Website managers are putting in a lot of effort to make the sites user-friendly and interactive. Said Arun, "We have enabled commenting on the website and are receiving messages from panic stricken people. Our site also has a discussion board so that doctors can interact with them directly. A number of doctors have taken interest in the site and are voluntarily answering questions of our readers."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4952316.cms