Downing Street Update

Well, it looks like the media may finally be catching on. They’re even excerpting the memos in papers here in red, red, red Indiana. And check this out:

WMD claims were 'totally implausible'

British bombing raids were illegal, says Foreign Office

What the 'Downing Street' memos show

'Downing Street memo': The second draft of history

The Downing Street Memo and the Court of Appeal in News Judgment

Kerry cautious on probing `Downing Street Memo' (What a shocker, eh?)

Why George Went To War

Why the Memo Matters

Bush's war worries

Memos show British concern over Iraq plans

In other news, About.com had the following to report:

Downing Street Memo
If you want to see an example of Internet word of mouth in action, read the following from BTC News:

"BTC News White House correspondent Eric Brewer, the first correspondent to introduce the Downing Street Memo at a White House briefing, has been following the number of results returned by a Google search for the phrase, “Downing Street Memo.” On May 1, the number was near zero. On June 18, the number had reached 1,320,000 in a search for the exact phrase and 1,510,000 for the three words."

I tested this phrase in Google and came back with over one million results myself. What is the Downing Street Memo? Here's a copy online. The point of this post, however, is not to bring up the issues raised in the memo itself (which are pretty juicy-read it!), but to point out the incredible power of the Web community. This is what I'm talking about: that a phrase with barely any hits zoomed to the top of the search charts in this short of a time. Why did this happen? Increasing awareness, media spotlight, etc., but I'd bet a raspberry-filled donut that it was mostly from word of mouth: blogs, RSS, social bookmarks, etc.

Superb!