Can You Spare a Second for the Sentinel?

How much time do you have to spend with the Orlando Sentinel online? According to the latest Nielsen Online numbers for August, it's exactly 7 minutes and 59 seconds, up from 7 minutes and 44 seconds in August 2007. The Sentinel came in dead last among the top 30 sites. But, obviously, that is still an improvement.

Why, that's 15 seconds more of all Caylee all the time!

The Sun-Sentinel was down by about 29 seconds, to 6 minutes and 25 seconds. The Baltimore Sun also fell to 6 minutes and 37 seconds, from 7 minutes, 16 seconds. The Chicago Tribune was posted 7 min., 33 seconds, less than the from 10 minutes, 20 seconds, of the year before. And the LA Times was down 6 minutes, 48 seconds from 8 minutes, 10 seconds.

The mostly lower numbers were blamed on a surge of unique visitors. Apparently, there is an inverse relationship between unique visitors and time spent online. The higher the unique visitors, the lower the time spent online.

In August, the Orlando Sentinel posted 1.65 million unique visitors, up 10 percent. Decent numbers, to be sure, but not among the best.

The Sun-Sentinel soared 26 percent to 1.67 million unique vistors. The Baltimore Sun jumed 127 percent to 2.5 million due to hometown guy and Olympic favorite Phelps. The Chicago Tribune was up 56 percent to 4.7 million, while the LA Times climbed 66 percent to 8.9 million.

Before folks start breaking out the champagne, however, bear in mind that these numbers shift quite a bit. With the exception of the nation's top newspapers, such as the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, the papers at the bottom of the list cycle in and out.

In July, for instance, neither the Sun-Sentinel nor the Orlando Sentinel were on the time spent online or the unique visitors lists at all.

Is their appearance on both lists a fluke or a sign of something more solid?