Paris Hilton entered jail on June 3 for violating her probation in a drunk-driving case. In true Paris fashion, she managed to make headlines even in jail, by going home for supposed medical reasons, re-entering jail, and talking to Barbara Walters about her newfound maturity. The gossip blogs, of course were flooded with commentary, rumors, and speculation about Paris’ jail stay, as was the major news media. US traffic to TMZ and Hollywood Tuna was up 60% and 85% respectively, making this the third highest traffic week in celebrity news in the past year, after Anna Nicole Smith’s death and Britney Spears’ lack of wardrobe malfunctions.

The gossip blogs have truly taken over celebrity news in the past year. The market share of US visits to TMZ and aptly named Perez Hilton increased more than fourfold from May 2006 to May 2007. If Perez Hilton ranked in the News & Media category, it would have been at #23 in May 2007. It’s no wonder then, that Yahoo! just launched a blog-style gossip site in partnership with Access Hollywood, called omg!. It will be interesting to see how long it takes a site run by 2 media giants to eclipse a site run by a young man with pink hair. Ah, the beauty of Web 2.0.