Web Struggles in a Time of Need

The aftermath of the terrorist attacks last week revealed anew the Internet's traditional limitations, including its inability to handle a huge and unexpected surge in usage. People turned to the Web in droves for news and communication with friends, colleagues and family. In New York, where phone service was jammed or disrupted and TV viewers without cable were left with a single TV station, WCBS, the medium seemed particularly useful. But users were confronted with flooded sites and spotty access from overloaded Internet service providers. "We were totally unprepared," said an executive at one ISP. "Because of the volume of users going online, we couldn't manage all of the traffic." Indeed, major ISPs, including America Online and EarthLink, experienced slowdowns and intermittent outages throughout the week as millions of users logged on. Users had troubles accessing Web sites and using e-mail, and servers struggled to accommodate the increased traffic and constantly changing content. "In the first few hours, people who went to the Internet were frustrated," said Sean Kaldor, vp of analytical services at NetRatings. The traffic problems were exacerbated, he said, by some news sites that tried to deliver large streaming-media and graphic files, leading to tremendous congestion on the Web. To counter the delays brought on by fat content, a handful of online news organizations, including CBS MarketWatch, a San Francisco-based financial news site, eliminated all graphics and ads to facilitate faster load time. Traffic to MarketWatch.com spiked by nearly 100 percent in the first few hours following the crashes, the company said. For many, the site and service failures only highlighted the Net's limitations. "The Internet is a limited concept that is overhyped," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a Washington, D.C.-based group that studies the convergence of television and the Internet. "At times of national crisis, television can shine. It was the television anchors that provided more leadership than our government leaders." The grassroots nature of the Web, Chester said, does not give it the same power. "Television is still the nation's central nervous system and our electronic hearth," he said. "It is the medium that is the most human. Television is more powerful because it has the ability to be a pulpit." Still, once they were able to log on, users did take advantage of the medium's particular strengths. "If you were looking for background research, stuff that wasn't covered on TV news, you would turn to the Internet," Kaldor said. "The Internet put perspective and dimension around the story." Marketers, too, turned to their Internet presence to communicate with customers and displaced employees. "What would a company do before?" asked one marketing executive. "Make phone calls one by one? Mail letters?" For some companies, e-mail became a primary vehicle. Financial services firm Charles Schwab, for example, sent two e-mails to customers on its regular network. One, from Charles Schwab himself, advised investors and reassured them about the financial markets, peppering its guidance with historic perspective. American Express used its Web site in a similar way, offering information on how to use the company's services during the week after the tragedy. Morgan Stanley, one of the largest tenants in the World Trade Center, used its site to inform employees of emergency plans and reassure customers that the company would continue to function. Barbara Zenz, president of Stephenz Group in San Jose, Calif., said her company was able to use its push technology to send e-mail with pertinent technology information to its many military customers. As the week progressed, people used the Web less for communication and more to gain insight and rally support for fund-raising and other actions. "It's now about taking action," Kaldor said. "The Internet gave people back a small measure of control."

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Web Struggles in a Time of Need

Kipp Cheng

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Kipp Cheng