Memorial Day, the Star Trek movie and Barack Obama topped the list of America’s most-blogged-about topics in May 2009 while the swine flu, which was #1 in April, dropped to #8, according to Nielsen Online’s monthly index of most-blogged news stories.
Nielsen Online reported that conversations about Memorial Day ranged from retail sales during the holiday period to bloggers’ plans for the weekend, while Star Trek fans came online to discuss various topics and logistics related to the new film. In addition to Star Trek, the movie Terminator Salvation also made the top-10 list.
Barack Obama was the most talked-about political figure in May and the #3 most-talked-about topic for the month. According to Nielsen, bloggers buzzed about the president’s desire to pass a new credit card reform law, his planned trip to the Middle East and his visit to the University of Notre Dame, which also propelled the term “Notre Dame” to the fifth-most talked-about subject in May.
President Obama’s May 26th nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court also was widely discussed among bloggers, Nielsen said.
Former US VP Dick Cheney also emerged as the fourth most blogged-about topic in May.
While Swine Flu was top of mind for many bloggers in April, it fell to #8 in May. Bloggers continued to discuss the latest cases and growing number of infected; however, there were also many conversations that discussed how the initial panic surrounding the epidemic was over-inflated and unnecessary, Nielsen noted.
About the index: Blog conversations were tracked using a Nielsen BuzzMetrics custom blog analysis.