This snapshot graphic shows the top worldwide stories listed by Google News Directories at 8 a.m. Friday. Headline Surfer's breaking news alert on the overnight shootout between the Boston Marathon bombing suspects and cops was listed as the lead item for the shootings. Five minutes later, the directory was updated and the 24/7 Internet newspaper was replaced by the far greater online versions of metro newspapers.
DAYTONA BEACH -- At 8 a.m., Headline Surfer's breaking news compilation on the Boston Marathon bombing shootout published two hours earlier was listed among the top worldwide stories compiled by Google News Directories.
In fact, our story was listed as the lead item on the bombing story with our headline, "Boston Marathon bombing suspects: 1 dead; manhunt for 2nd." Google updated its listing 5 minutes later with fresher news, but we made the grade for that time span, at least.
Headline Surfer is among the few 24/7 Internet newspapers that isn't an offshoot of a print newspaper, network cable or local TV outlet, and likely one of the smallest operations in the world, but nevertheless, recognized by Google News as a viable online news source.
We pulled together a dozen videos from YouTube with an alert to our local readership, stating, "DAYTONA BEACH -- For those of you just waking up, there has been a lot of police activity overnight in Boston, in particular, nearby Watertown, where cops and two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing exchanged gunfire. One suspect is confirmed dead and a second remains at large. An MIT campus police officer was shot and killed earlier by the suspects and a suffered critical gunshot wounds in the subsequent shootout."
We posted three videos on the home page and nine more inside, along with a rotator from Google on the latest news related to the shootout. We felt it was important to let local followers know what was unfolding.