Bread and Peanut Butter are Big Buys in Millennium Personality Survey

Bread and Peanut Butter are Big Buys
in Millennium Personality Survey

BigYellow® Online Reports "Able Mabel" and
"Party Marty" Still Lead the Millennium Personality
Pack

December 8, 1999

FALLS CHURCH, VA -- Bread and peanut butter are beating out
champagne and batteries as people prepare their pantries for the coming
Millennium according to a survey conducted by Bell Atlantic's BigYellow
online shopping guide (www.bigyellow.com). BigYellow's Millennium
Personality survey was introduced in September and will continue until
the ball drops on December 31. The survey gives visitors to the
BigYellow Web site the chance to measure how seriously they are taking
the Y2K hype.

Survey results show that prepared "Able Mabels" are holding
on to their lead, beating out the celebration-loving "Party
Martys" again in November. Current numbers show Able Mabel
stocking up at 43%, Party Marty trailing slightly with 35%, and Ready
Freddy finishing third, yet again, with 22%.

"The national mood on the millenium remains optimistic."
said Deborah Auerbach-Deutsch, Manager, Marketing Communication,
Bell Atlantic Electronic Commerce Services. "Most people are
stocking up on a few basics, but they're concentrating on having a good
time."

Other questions designed to determine visitors' Millennium Personalities
include reactions to power outages and how much money they are
planning to withdraw from the bank before the millennium. Survey
participant's choice of a millennium theme song also helps determine the
personality category. Able Mabel's are singing, "With a little help
from my friends."

The personality survey is part of BigYellow's Millennium Madness Web
site which offers a fun look at Y2K hype along with helpful advice and
tips. Millennium Madness is receiving more attention as the big night
draws closer. Since the introduction of this survey, visits to the Y2K
section have increased by 62%.

Besides the personality survey, visitors to the site can win Millennium
prizes, find an event in their area, take trivia tests, or watch a ticking clock
countdown to 2000. Beyond the millennium guide, BigYellow offers a
searchable listing of hundreds of stores and businesses and numerous
holiday shopping opportunities.

About Bell Atlantic

Bell Atlantic Directory Group is the world's largest publisher of print and
online shopping directories, connecting buyers and sellers in the U.S. and
in China, the Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Greece, Poland, and the Slovak
Republic. It also is a leading provider of Web creation, hosting, and
shopping services, including Web@Once SM site creation services and
BigYellow®. BigYellow, combined with GTE SuperPages^TM, is the
leading shopping directory on the Internet and is the exclusive online
Yellow Pages service for the nearly 18 million members of the America
Online Service, AOL.com, and AOL's Digital Cities. BigYellow also is
the exclusive online Yellow Pages shopping directory for GO.com.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With 43 million telephone access lines and nearly
10 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are
premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services and market
leaders in wireless services. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the
world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets,
with operations and investments in 23 countries.