Top 10 on the web | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

A story about the nudist lifestyle in the Bay topped the list of the most read stories on the Bay of Plenty Times website in 2010.

Quirky stories and breaking news proved to be most popular for online readers.

Among the top 10 were three stories alerting readers to the local body election results as they were released.

Other spot news stories included a fatal car crash, in which Hairini woman Diane Wilton-Jones was killed, and the naming of sex offender Richard Clark.

Among the quirky stories were a boy's close shave with a shark, and a teacher who used Facebook to campaign for cheap flights for his profession.

The tragic story of Papamoa mum Jolene Patuawa-Tuilave, who died of breast cancer after having to choose between cancer treatment or continuing her pregnancy, was the second most read.

And Bay residents have obviously got jobs on their mind - a story about 350 new jobs created in Papamoa was the sixth most popular.

APN web analyst Rebecca Byrne said it was difficult to predict which stories would be popular on news websites.

"It's hard to put your finger on why something has done well sometimes."

Some stories were well-read because search engines picked up words in the headline or body of the article - which could be the case with the Naked truth about nudist lifestyle story, she said.

But quirky stories were often popular.

"That [the naturist story] is quite a funny, quirky story which local people may have found interesting."

And spot news - such as election results and car crashes - continued to be hugely popular online.

"Online gives people the ability to be up to date in almost real time. We do find around major news events we see a higher audience, and we have people coming back more frequently to keep up to date with what's happening."

Jeremy Rees, nzherald.co.nz publisher, said the top two stories of the year for the website were the Pike River Mine tragedy and the Christchurch earthquake.

"They were stories - terrible as they were - that were made for the internet. People wanted to know every detail and so kept checking back voraciously to read more and check out every new detail.

"The top two stories were also top on our mobile site, not just the web. And these two stories showed the rising power of mobile in digital publishing. People could get updates quickly by phone and they did."

Mr Rees expected to see more people using their phones to get news in 2011, and more iPad and iPhone apps.

"Faster broadband is meaning people are more visual and can get richer media downloaded."

TOP 10 ON THE WEB

Top 10 Best Read Stories of 2010 on www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz:

Naked truth about nudist lifestyle, October 30 - feature about naturists in the Bay.

The ultimate sacrifice, July 17 - Papamoa woman Jolene Patuawa-Tuilave died of breast cancer, after having to choose between cancer treatment or continuing her pregnancy.

Boy plucked from water as shark cruises waves, January 5 - Reuben King, 11, was pulled out of the water by his parents after a potentially dangerous shark was spotted cruising close to shore at Tay St beach.

Progressive results local body elections, October 9 - local body election results.

Woman killed in city crash, January 2 - Diane Wilton-Jones died when Samuel Kneebone ploughed into the car she and husband Graham were in near the Maungatapu Bridge.

350 jobs created in Tauranga, January 30 - The new Pak'n Save supermarket and two new schools in Papamoa looked set to provide 350 new jobs.

 Bay Elections Day 2010, October 9 - local body election results.

Facebook campaign lands cheap flights, June 29 - Air New Zealand offered teachers special travel packages after Tauranga Intermediate School teacher Ian Henderson started a Facebook page.

Court ends name secrecy for child sex accused, September 9 - Richard Clark was uncovered as the Tauranga man who was in court on 42 charges of sexual abuse against girls.

 Stuart Crosby re-elected as Mayor of Tauranga, October 9 - local body election results.