I think that's missing the point, you kinda cherry-picked one piece to compare to (albeit the next-most-popular one). As the article mentions, only four of the

I think that's missing the point, you kinda cherry-picked one piece to compare to (albeit the next-most-popular one). As the article mentions, only four of the top ten were breaking news stories. And yeah those are the least interesting because that is the most basic and straightforward function of a news organization and, as you noted, rather interchangeable with competitors' offerings. And I don't think the article was attempting to say that "people were more interested in the Dialect Map than the bombings." But, the point is, when stacked up against the rest of the Times' original/exclusive/investigative pieces - their differentiating content - an interactive "app" was more popular than traditional journalistic prose (even from noted celebrities!), and that they demonstrably missed opportunities by not creating more apps. As an aside, I agree with corresation's point that the "only 11 days" argument is weak, in fact it probably got a massive viral boost by coming during the holidays. Anecdotally I was with my family when we all did the quiz and talked about it.