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Presidential Election Draws High Employee Traffic Online
SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Availability of employee internet access combined with skyrocketing internet-based political content such as blogs, news, satire and candidate sites are changing the face of the 2004 election within the workplace, according to Websense Inc. The number of political websites has grown from just over 3,000 in 2000 to more than 17,000 sites today -- an increase of approximately 400%. This vast upsurge in number of political Web sites may cause a considerable drain on employee productivity, and will only increase as the election draws near.Since the last presidential election in 2000, the number of Americans using the internet at work has increased by nearly 20 million, according to ClickZ. As of August, 137 million Americans were using the internet, and 51.8 million Americans were doing so from work. In addition, a recent comScore study showed that traffic to candidates' websites such as JohnKerry.com and GeorgeWBush.com has been concentrated during work hours, with some days experiencing more than 45,000 visitors per hour at peak usage periods -- between approximately 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.In some instances, political parody and satirical Web sites are generating even more interest than the candidates' sites themselves, Websense officials said. For example, JibJab.com, a popular political satire site featuring both President Bush and Senator Kerry singing "This Land is Your Land," has been visited more than 65 million times since its July release. At times reaching more than a million Americans per day, JibJab.com saw more than three times the combined total of visitors for JohnKerry.com and GeorgeWBush.com."This year's election could have a major impact on the bottom line of many businesses," said Harold Kester, chief technology officer of Websense. "With more than 17,000 political Web sites, plus the exponential amount of blogs and other new types of political content readily available at employees' fingertips, organizations should brace themselves for a heavy influx of traffic to those sites in the weeks leading up to the presidential election."said Harold Kester, chief technology officer of Websense, Inc. "However, with Websense's flexible filtering options, employees can still utilize the internet as a resource to keep up-to-date on the latest political developments as appropriate, without draining overall company productivity."Websense Inc. is a provider of employee Internet management products and services.Visit Websense Inc.: www.websense.com"