RSS
Jamie Wilkinson
Evan Roth
James PowderlyMassaging the statistics
#1: Brad Feld recently proclaimed your analytics are very wrong, specifically referring to:
- issues w/ tracking “widget” usage (like embeds), a new and imprecise science at best
- RSS subscriber overinflation, caused by services like Google Reader auto-subscribing new signups to your RSS feed, inaccurately jacking up the subscription numbers.
This discussion just points out the need for better techniques to measure and better language to talk about how many people actually see your content vs. potentially see your content. e.g. feed subscription #’s do not equate to actual readers, and just because I downloaded your podcast does not mean I listened to it. The problem is analogous to a Nielsen Home that leaves their TV on whether or not somebody is watching it — Nielsen counts that, and that is part of why Nielsen sucks.
#2, Yahoo and Microsoft are now providing more ways than ever to fudge those numbers! Taking a swipe at Google Analytics and its mighty ad-sales cross-collateralization (you know, why Google gives everything away for free), Yahoo acquired Index Tools, and Microsoft is launching adCenter Analytics.
