Using a trove of data from Bit.ly links, Forbes has created an interactive map of the news preferences of online readers. The biggest surprise: Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera is curiously most popular in the states of Oregon and New Hampshire Vermont. Focusing on 15 major news outlets, the interactive charts "news sources and individual articles that were unusually popular in certain states compared to national averages." Al Jazeera also had strong showings in Washington, California, and Texas. Take what you will out of the fact that another outlet outside mainstream news in the U.S., NPR, also performs better-than-average in these states. Clicking through the footprints of the 15 outlets, on Forbes site, most of the findings are obvious: The Huffington Post does well nationally, as does MSNBC and CNN with Fox News slightly more concentrated in some red states. The New York Times was more heavily trafficked the Northeast but shows a lot of sharing across the country. However, readership of The Washington Post, which has tried to make a push to reach a wide nationwide audience, is pretty isolated to the states surrounding D.C.

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