Does breaking up increase your popularity?
According to a Lycos 50 study that would make any lab scientist shudder (a test group of only three couples who happen to be celebrities), why yes, it does.
Here are the three test couples: Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid; Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres; and Helen Hunt and Hank Azaria.
We compared searches from the week before the couples announced their splits to the week after. Here?s how their popularity increased:
77.76% Meg Ryan
48.35% Dennis Quaid
1380% Anne Heche
819% Ellen DeGeneres
191% Helen Hunt
0% Hank Azaria
Heche and DeGeneres both had incredible query increases. Looks like the more spectacular the split, the more popular you become.
Poor Hank Azaria wasn?t helped at all by his bye-bye with Helen. He?ll just have to survive vicariously through the popularity of The Simpsons (he voices Apu, Moe, and Chief Wiggum).
Also interesting to note: the Hollywood hunks who were rumored to be the cause of two of the break-ups?Russell Crowe (for Meg/Dennis) and Vince Vaughn (for Anne/Ellen)?both decreased in popularity after word got out.
Searches for Crowe went down 30% and Vaughn?s went down 22%.
The moral of the story: To become more popular with Web users, try splitting up with your honey. Just make sure that you aren?t at the pointy part of that love triangle.
