Compete's web analytics tools has attempted to give a broader range of stats beyond mere visits and page views by introducing stats measuring visitor's 'attention'.
In a recent post, Steve Rubel discussed what would replace the page impression, and while the unique visitor metric is probably the most reliable metric available at the moment, it fails to measure a user's engagement with a particular site.
This is where Compete's 'attention' metric could be useful - it measures the total amount of time U.S. users spend on a website as a percentage of total time spent on the internet by all U.S. users.
The above graph gives a comparison of MySpace, eBay and YouTube, and shows that MySpace users spend far more time on that site that the others.
While other web analytics companies, such as Hitwise, track stats at ISP level, Compete, along with Alexa and others, get their stats from users who have their toolbars installed.
This means that attention stats for many smaller sites and blogs, including E-consultancy, are not available at the moment.
Graham Charlton is Editor at Econsultancy. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin or Google+.
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1:37PM on 5th April 2007
I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the implicit association that "attention=time". Attention is "the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things" (Wikipedia). In your example, the type of "attention" is really different when you look at eBay, YouTube and MySpace. Do they share the same attention characteristics? I've been discussing the concept of attention economy in web analytics for a while and the recent introduction of Compete, although interesting, is too narrow. Even if you spend an hour in each of those activities, do you have the same experience when shopping for a new MP3 player (eBay), looking at TV (YouTube) or visiting friends (MySpace)? I guess not :)
S.Hamel
http://blog.immeria.net
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
2:08PM on 5th April 2007
A great observation - you're right, of course. It is something that merits more discussion...
2:12PM on 5th April 2007
Compete metrics are based on the behavior of 2 million U.S. internet users. Compete’s panel is based on a diverse data set including, ISPs, opt-in panels and the Compete Toolbar. Unlike other panels, the Compete panel is able to compare and contrast its various data sources to indentify and de-bias site inflation/deflation. In many ways, Compete blends the approach of comparative market offerings to offer the largest and most diverse domestic data source available.
For a comparative matrix across existing metrics providers see:
http://www.compete.com/help#snp2
3:15PM on 5th April 2007
I agree with Mr Hamel in that our standard web 1.0 metrics are becoming funky web 2.0 metrics just with a bit of rebranding. To this end I have constructed my own web 2.0 'user engagement' metrics.
Matt Hopkins
http://www.webanalyticmatt.com/2007/04/04/compete-introduces-new-web-20-measurement/