Web Analytics Usage Statistics

14 12 2010

I have always been interested in Web Analytics.  Most of the tools claim to solve world hunger, but which of the literally dozens of Web Analytics tools do people actually use out there?  I stumbled across one pretty interesting analysis of who is using what today.

Here are the Top 5 Web Analytics tools used according to this survey:

  1. Google Analytics.  (57%)  Not surprising.  It’s free to use.
  2. Quantcast Tracking. (18%)
  3. Google Analytics Asynchronous (14%) Also free to use.   More about what this is.
  4. Omniture SiteCatalyst.  (14%) Recently acquired by Adobe.
  5. comScore.  (9%)

The number six tool is down around 3% share.

This is just the beginning of a long analytic tool war.  With the data on the Internet fragmenting (see my previous 12/13/10 blog post) they tools makers will have to move quickly to be able to track and measure activity on the Web.

See Full Report


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Categories : Enterprise Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Plan, Social Media Data, Social Media Marketing, Technology, Web Analytics

Google Social Media Strategy Update

10 12 2010

The one thing that is clear about Google’s Social Media strategy is that it is evolving.  Here are some of the highlights of the latest news on the subject:

  • Google Me planned for Fall 2010, will now roll out in the Spring 2011 timeframe.
    • Google Me was planned for fall.  ZDnet Article.
    • Then they said they were not building a traditional platform.  Telegraph Article.
    • Now, the update is that Google Me or Google +1 will roll out in the spring of 2011.  Blogherald Article.
  • Google will not compete head-on with Facebook.  The emphasis will be on providing a new and unique social media experience.  (Good Idea)
  • Google +1, which is the latest thinking on what was Google Me, will not be an app so much as a browser extension.  This will be complimented by a mobile app called Loops.
  • The idea behind Loops is that you have “loops” or groups of friends and do not want to blast out all messages to everybody.  You want to send certain types of messages to certain groups.  That makes a lot of sense to me.

Why a Frontal Assault of Facebook Does Not Make Strategic Sense

It’s a matter of simple mathematics.  Social media is all about your community.  Check the relative community sizes of Facebook and Google.

Facebook            Over 500 million

Google                 Well over 100 million GMail users

How Do All The Google Parts Fit Together?

There is actually quite a lot going on at Google that would compliment their social media strategy.  The big thing that is missing is a natural way of pulling it all together – a sort of grand unification theory.  Google needs to find a way to leverage its strengths in search, video, email, etc and extend them naturally into the social media space.

The good news for Google is that they are not starting from bare dirt.  They have a lot of corporate assets that can play in this space.  The big challenge for Google will be to convince all of their anonymous users (Search, YouTube, Maps) to create and share online identities and become part of a Google community.

Groupon would seem like a very nice fit with this whole picture.  The Groupon model would be a great way to monetize social media and diversify Google’s sources of income which is virtually all from ads.  The problem is that Groupon turned down a $6 billion offer from Google last week.  BW Article. The opportunity for Google is that Groupon’s business model is not to hard to emulate.  The challenge is that Google is coming from behind in social media and really doesn’t need another battle to fight.


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Categories : Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Technology

Google Me Coming this Fall

1 10 2010

Eric Schmidt has confirmed that “Google Me” is not just a rumor.  It is coming “sometime this fall.”  Google Me has been described as a social layer that is integrated with their current offerings such as Search, YouTube, and Google Maps.

Google’s intent with Google Me is to allow users to access information and profiles that they have created on other sites such as Twitter, Flickr, and others.  They are also trying to get access to the data on Facebook.

Google is also looking to partner with some of the big game companies on Facebook.  They have said that they will integrate with Zynga and have a stake in the company.

These rumors have been confirmed in:

Reuters

WSJ (you will need to read down a bit in this article)

What’s driving Google

  • First of all, social media is hot and Google needs to be a part of it to continue to be a leader in the online world.  Google’s Orkut has only been successful in Brazil and India and Google Wave was killed last month.  Google has learned from both experiences and will incorporate that learning into their approach with Google Me.
  • Social Media is an opaque world to search, the core of Google’s business. As more activity moves to Social Media, Google is getting left out.  With Facebook at 500 million users, the strategic threat is significant.
  • Advertising.  This is the core of Google’s revenue stream.  As we have discussed in the two previous blogs on this site, the growth rate for search ad revenue is slowing while it increases in display ads, particularly banner ads and video ads.  Google’s model is to place ads within the context of what users are doing.  As they lose visibility to user activity online, they lose the ability to place useful ads and their overall relevance decreases.

Google’s strategic need for Google Me is clear.  The details remain to be seen.  The key issue is how Google gets over the hurdle of the 500 million Facebook users.  This is a classic “barrier to entry” in the social media space.  Users do not want to build and manage multiple online presences and profiles.  Can Google deliver a service that:

  • Fits naturally with the way people work and interact online
  • Provides significant value to users over and above what they have today
  • Allows users to leverage existing network relationships without having to re-build them on another site
  • Respects people’s privacy.  Google has had troubles in this area such as the way they implemented Google Buzz and Street View.
  • Aggregates many different online activities in one place, making it easier for people to manage their virtual lives

We should not have to wait too long to see.


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Categories : Business Models, Social Media, Social Media Company, Social Media Marketing, Technology

Google Kills Wave

5 08 2010

I just read about the demise of Google Wave.  There is lots of talk about why Wave failed but what interests me more is the evolving Google product development model.  Google tries things out in the market, gets feedback, adjusts, and very quickly kills projects that don’t work.  Google has killed several projects this summer including

The important thing is that Google is listening very closely to these “failures” and learns from them.  They use social media very effectively to listen to their customers.  The power of their brand also means that large industry players will take them seriously and provide input.  The result is that Google is on the cutting edge of sensing what the market is thinking.

Why didn’t Google Wave catch on?

  • Google Wave was very interesting but it demanded too much change in the way that users go about their work.  The best tools are those that fit naturally.
  • 500 million Facebook users.  The value of social networking is in the size of the community.  Google faces a big “barrier to entry” in jumping this hurdle.

What we are seeing here is a new style of product development.  Google has already shown itself to be the master of the very long beta.  Now they are going beyond that into product launches that are trials.  If the services don’t stick in the market, they are killed.  In both the betas and trials, Google has the mechanisms in place to listen to the feedback from customers, non-customers and partners.  They have shown that they are very willing to take action based on this input.

There is already a rumor of a Google Me service that is supposed to take on Facebook directly.  The reasoning goes that Wave was removed from the market to clear space for this new entrant due soon.  When it launches, we will see what Google has learned from listening to its customers and partners.


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Categories : Business Models, Cloud Computing, Social Media, Social Media Company, Technology

iPhone Gets Press, Android Gets Market Share

8 07 2010

No knock on Apple here.  They have some run-away best sellers going:

The interesting news is that while all this is going on,  comScore’s latest numbers on smartphone platform market share show Apple iOS declining slightly while Google’s Android market share grew 4 percentage points.

Important caveats:

  • The time period was the three months ending in May
  • This does not include iPhone 4 sales
  • It also does not include iPad.  Not a smartphone

The key thing to note that while all the major players are growing in absolute terms, Apple pre-iPhone 4 was not gaining market share.  It will be interesting to see what happens now that the iPhone 4 has shipped.

Full comScore numbers


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Categories : Business Models, Cloud Computing, Mobile, Technology

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