Facebook, CNN's Exchange, and online news sources saw huge surges, including some triple-digit percentage increases, according to Hitwise, which analyzes Internet search and site visit patterns.
Hitwise reported that Virginia Tech's Facebook Web site experienced a 555% increase in visitors on Monday, compared to Sunday's traffic. Compared to the previous Monday, traffic was up 407%, according to figures Hitwise released Wednesday.
Online traffic to news and media sites rose 16% Monday compared to Sunday's traffic and 27% compared to the previous Monday, according to the report. CNN's Exchange, which features reader contributions, increased by an astounding 2,063% from Sunday to Monday. Traffic to CNN.com's main site increased by 59%.
Television Web sites had the largest gain, with ABC News leading the pack among major networks with a 245% increase in traffic since Sunday. MSNBC.com experienced a 161% rise in traffic, while Fox News' traffic grew by 64%, in that same 24 hours.
Yahoo News, which is mainly a content aggregator, had the largest percentage increase while it also ranked as the top visited news and media Web site among those Hitwise tracks. It received 8.69% of the visits recorded in the category and traffic increased by 62% over Monday.
AOL News traffic rose 37% percent from Sunday to Monday, while Google News rose 6%. The New York Times suffered a 2% drop in traffic, while Yahoo Weather experienced a 32% drop, even as many parts of the East Coast flooded from the weekend's storm.