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Akamai Technologies says its new news mapping service will count the sum of page requests across 100 major news sites it serves to rank interest in major events on a scale never seen before, Reuters reports. The Akamai Net News Index provides a map of six world regions and measures the current appetite for news in terms of average daily demand, measuring visitors to news sites per minute, per week, within each geographic region. Traffic spikes can reveal the next wave of news demand.

Data generated by the index could be used by advertisers and investors to map social patterns and make buying decisions. "We can get a real-time, exact view of the data," according to Akamai's chief executive, Paul Sagan.

Studies show that when news breaks the web is displacing TV and print as a source of information - and the index could act as early warning system on major news events, or for subsequent trend research, according to Akamai.

In two-and-a-half months of testing before the index launch, Akamai found the biggest online news events were the London bombings on July 7, Hurricane Emily July 15, the combined effects of the Space Shuttle launch and monsoon in India on July 26.

Among the 100 participating news sites are the U.S.-centered NBC, XM Satellite Radio and ESPN, LeMonde in France and the global audiences of CNN.com and Reuters.com.