As reports of the swine flu outbreak reached beyond Mexican borders and into the U.S. late last week, the internet has been buzzing furiously about risks, symptoms, and other updates for information. By comparison, the volume of conversations about the epidemic have already exceeded nearly 10 to 1 those surrounding the salmonella and peanut butter scares from earlier this winter… or, to put it in another cultural perspective, the chatter about swine flu even dwarfs that of recent viral media star Susan Boyle.

The increased conversations around swine flu on Twitter, …