The past college year was an exciting one for The University Times with many high quality articles generating notable levels of traffic on the UT website. But what were the articles which were most popular among UT readers? Here, Eoghan O’Sullivan counts down the ten most popular articles on the UT site since last September.
10. ‘A crash course in fine wine’, Hubie Pilkington, 24 October 2012.
Here Hubie Pilkington, the UT’s resident critic of the finer things in life, shares his experience and knowledge of wine in order to help students select the right wine for the right occasion. He describes various types of wine, as well as what foods best accompany them. The popularity of this article suggests that it was advice that was greatly appreciated by the UT’s wine-loving readership.
9. ‘Fear and Loathing in Coppers’, Paul Doyle, 24 January 2013.
This article is Paul Doyle’s humorous account of a less then successful night in ‘Copper Face Jack’s’, a popular Dublin nightspot. Written in an acerbic tone and interspersed with light-hearted social commentary, this article provoked a high level of comment on the website; with some readers criticising Paul’s writing style. Of course, it’s difficult to tell for certain whether many agreed with these observations, but the article’s popularity, and resulting place in this list, would suggest it didn’t put too many off.
8. ‘€10,600 raised as Jailbreak winners reach south Argentina’, Jack Leahy, 10 March 2013.
One of this year’s feel-good stories. Here Jack Leahy details the epic 7,020-mile journey travelled by Matthew Hainbach and Claire Cullen to win a closely fought Jailbreak competition, an event that gathered attention across campus, as well as further afield. As part of this competition, over thirty teams of students attempted to get as far away as possible from college in the space of thirty six hours; all without spending any of their own money. All teams sought sponsorship, with more than €14,000 being raised for charity.
7. ‘LIVE: March for Savita’, Hannah Jean Ryan & Leanna Byrne, 21 November 2012.
Like everyone in Ireland this year, Trinity students were shocked and saddened by news of the death of Savita Halappanavar. Hannah Jean Ryan and Leanna Byrne live-tweeted coverage of a protest march to government buildings organised a few days after news of Savita’s death broke. This coverage made it to the front page of Reddit, crashing the UT website as a result. This was one of several occasions this year where the sheer volume of traffic generated by a popular story proved too much for our valiant servers.
6. ‘The Deep Web’, Tommy Gavin, 17 December 2012.
In this enlightening article, Tommy Gavin discusses the secret and murky world of the ‘Deep Web’ i.e. those parts of the internet not accessible via a search engine. He tells us of its legitimate applications, but also of its more sinister and often disturbing aspects, including the purchasing of illegal items through untraceable black markets. A real eye-opener.
5. ‘A False Equivalency – Comparing Stalin to Hitler’, Conor Kenny, 8 March 2012.
The only article in this year’s top ten that wasn’t actually written during this academic year. Here Conor Kenny argues that, although both committed reprehensible acts, Stalin’s conduct was less morally repugnant than that of Hitler. He bases this on what he describes as Hitler’s “inherently evil” ideology, which led him to commit a deliberate and targeted genocide on the Jewish people.
4. ‘Spotted: CyberBullying’, Paul Doyle, 19 December 2013.
The only writer to make the top ten twice, here Paul Doyle discusses the dangerous nature of the, then widely popular, ‘Spotted’ Facebook pages, and the tendency of such pages to facilitate cyber bullying. This piece was inspired by his own experience of such pages, as well as a number of unpleasant interactions with some of their administrators.
3. ‘THEY TOOK OUR FLEGS!’, James Bennett, 23 January 2013.
A fascinating interview with Willie Frazier by James Bennett. Mr Frazier is a unionist activist involved in the recent Union Flag protests in Northern Ireland. Among the topics raised in the interview were the Union Flag protests, a planned unionist march in Dublin and, more bizarrely, Mr Frazier’s belief that there was IRA involvement in the recently discovered addition of horsemeat to beef products.
2. ‘SU Election Candidates Profiled’, News Team, 21 January 2013.
As part of the UT’s coverage of this year’s SU elections, profiles for each of the candidates were assembled. Each profile included candidates’ experience, aims and vision for the SU. Essentially what it says on the tin.
1. ‘At the click of a button your reputation is irreparably and irrevocably damaged’, Matthew Taylor, 4 January 2013.
And finally in the top spot, Matthew Taylor’s reflection on another of the internet’s darker sides: its ability to ruin lives. This article was inspired mainly by the online reaction to the viral video featuring the now infamous ‘KPMG Girl’. As well as being highly popular, this was one of the most commented on pieces on the UT website this past year. It strongly divided opinion, with commenters discussing both Matthew’s arguments and the contents of the video.
So there you have it, the most popular articles on the UT website this year. I think most would agree that they’re a varied and interesting collection of pieces. But, what does the popularity of these articles say about University Times readers? Well, that’s a separate matter entirely…
The first trend apparent from the above list is the prevalence of feature pieces in the top ten. ‘A crash course in fine wine’, ‘The Deep Web’ and ‘THEY TOOK OUR FLEGS!’; all of these are pieces whose main aim is to provide information on topics that are less than entirely understood by most, and the interest in these pieces showcases both the breadth and depth of the curiosity possessed by UT readers.
A second observation that can be made from the list is an obvious interest in argument and debate by UT readers. No less than four opinion pieces make the list: ‘Fear and Loathing in Coppers’, ‘A False Equivalency – Comparing Stalin to Hitler’, ‘Spotted: CyberBullying’ and ‘At the click of a button your reputation is irreparably and irrevocably damaged’. Reader engagement with these articles wasn’t limited to simply reading them; many offered their own comments, both on the website and on Facebook.
In terms of the news coverage that really grabbed the attention of the UT readership, it all falls into the category of college and student related stories: ‘€10,600 raised as Jailbreak winners reach south Argentina’ and ‘SU Election Candidates Profiled’. Both of these stories suggest that UT readers love to see other students succeeding, as well as that, whatever some might say to the contrary, people do seem to engage with the SU elections.
The final article on the list, ‘LIVE: March for Savita’, shows that UT readers were gripped as much as everyone else by possibly the biggest news story of the past year. Arguably, this is no surprise, given the history of student association with the issue of abortion, as well as the longstanding ‘liberal’ label attached to the majority of Trinity’s student body.
What is surprising is how well these articles sum up a year’s worth of content of the UT; they offer a good overview of what students were interesting in writing about, and of what you were interested in reading. Hopefully next year’s articles will hold your attention just as well.
In recogntion of engagement with UT Online, The University Times was awarded Website of the Year at the National Student Achievement Awards.
