California Same-Sex Marriage Campaigns on the Web

In addition to the historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency this month, one of the most newsworthy battles was that of Californians to overturn a previous ruling by the California Supreme Court that same-sex marriage was legal. Opponents of same-sex marriage put a proposition on the state ballot to reverse that decision by amending the state constitution to say, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." [That link is a PDF.]

As a San Francisco resident, I was keenly aware of the intense feelings on both sides of the debate over Proposition 8. Because I'm in San Francisco, most of what I heard was from the No on 8 side. This, to be clear, is yes to same-sex marriages, but no to the amendment to the constitution--confused yet? I happen to know gay people who were in support of same-sex marriage, but voted yes on the proposition by mistake--they're kinda feeling a bit queasy for not reading the ballot a bit more carefully.

What I find interesting is that it was a surprise to many of us that the proposition passed. Then, though, in discussions over time, it became clear that the No on 8 people did not do enough to educate the general population. Not only did they manage to leave some not voting the way they thought they were, but the campaign did not do nearly enough outreach. Perhaps it's because the proponents of same-sex marriage simply couldn't believe it was necessary to work harder. And they were outspent for a good while. The Yes on 8 people hit the ground running and did not let up. And they prevailed.

I think a fairly clear illustration of this point can be seen by comparing the traffic to the two central websites on the issue, noonprop8.com and protectmarriage.com. The victorious proponents of the proposition had so many more eyeballs. I don't even watch television, but they had banner ads all over the web. I suppose it's just proof that if you work hard and push your message, you'll get some traffic to your website. For some Californians, it's a painful reminder that you have aggressively pursue what you want.

What's Hot on the Web Right Now?

Alexa keeps rolling out exciting new features. We recently made new features available on our Top Sites Lists, and those are being well-received by web professionals. While I work for Alexa Internet and am interested in that sort of data, I tend to like shiny things. So, for those of you who, like me, are interested in the new new thing, I would like to point out our newest homepage offering, which I like to call Hot URLs.

One of the most rewarding things about using and working for Alexa is the way the Toolbar is a two-way street. Each member of the community, in addition to getting a useful tool, is giving back. Now, we're all pitching in to identify specific pages that are blazing to the top of the charts. Every five minutes, we determine the most popular pages visited by our Toolbar users during the last hour, and update a list of What's Hot on the Web Right Now.

So, on a busy morning at the office, I could take a quick break to look at the Alexa homepage and learn that Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck had a heated exchange over Veteran's Day on The View. (You'll be relieved to know Whoopi intervened and moved the show along.)

One thing I've learned as we've been preparing the What's Hot on the Web feature to go live is that there's something for everyone. And seeing what's going viral as it happens, therefore scooping your friends, is highly addictive.

Let us know what you think of the new feature in the comments. And, of course, if you think we're missing the really hot stuff, be sure to download the Alexa Toolbar and start feeding us your tips.