This isn't surprising -- research years ago showed that people read newspapers in a similar manner. They scan the headlines below the flag first, then move to the top and read the things above the flag, then look at content top-down/left-to-right. All this happens very quickly, as they try to decide what they actually want to read. Readers will read the first paragraph of an article, then leave it to see what else is interesting, then return after they've decided it's the most interesting article. Part of this has to do with the natural way in which people read and part of this has to do with the way newspapers are laid out. Most web pages are laid out differently, so these results reflect that.