If you are as much of an analytics nut as I am, then the video below is for you. It features Dr Matthew Hindman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University discussing online analytics. Dr. Hindman uses a variety of data from Hitwise to go very deep into the true analytics and much further than a basic web report.
From the overview, "Using three years of daily Web traffic data, and new models adapted from financial mathematics, this talk examines large-scale variation in Web traffic. These data show that Web traffic is highly heteroskedastic, with smaller sites having orders of magnitude more variation in the relative number of visitors they receive. These consistent patterns allow us to provide reasonable estimates of how likely it is Google will still be the most visited US site a year from now".
Dr. Hindman talks about rank volatility, items that are missing from traffic, the audience distribution curves for newspapers and news/media websites, and how big media plays musical chairs and how those chairs might affect staffing levels in the future. He also looks at whether the Web and online media can help save newspapers.
It’s 45 minutes long and while Hitwise data is not perfect, the analysis is worth the time.
One Response
Interesting post undoubtedly. Thanks for letting us know about online audience and the paradox of web traffic.