Why "Helvetica Neue"?

I'm noticing increasing use of Helvetica Neue as the preferred choice of web font. I find it quite difficult to read and often have to read things twice to read it correctly. See attached image for how it displays in Chrome - i looks like l and c looks like o.

Why is it popular? I find lots of good blogs written in bad fonts and don't want to keep reading, because I don't have time to read things twice.