Getting Buzzed!

As we reported last week in MIN, Yahoo’s new Buzz social media engine was starting to push a number of branded media site headlines onto the front page of Yahoo.com. The company reported some specific results from the first two weeks that seem to demonstrate the enduring power of portals married to familiar content labels. To wit:

USMagazine.com had it second highest traffic day ever on Feb. 27 in part from Yahoo Buss referrals. Almost a third of US visits that day were off of Yahoo.

Portfolio.com got a half million refers from a Buss link

Salon.com reaches 1 million uniques in a single day for the first time in its 12-year history after getting linked from a Yahoo Buzz item.

HuffingtonPost.com got 800,000 uniques in on day from a Buzz link.

Even as some metrics mavens argue that traffic is migrating away from portals and to the content niches, it is still apparent that using portals as a funnel towards branded, targeted media is enormously effective.