Three Oddities: Online Data Findings
January 22, 2010
I have been involved in a project in a land with many consonants. Before heading to the airport, I was catching up on the goodies in my newsreader. Three items caught my attention, and I was surprised by each of them. Let me run down the list.
First, there is the report “US Internet Speed Is on the Decline”. This is a headline sure to catch attention. The only problem is that in my neck of woods, the local cable company continues to offer faster Internet speeds. The report surprised me because when rural Kentucky has zippy speeds, it raises some questions in my mind about methodology. The idea that the US is lagging in certain technology areas is a mini trend.
Second, the article Report: 44% Of Google News Visitors Scan Headlines, Don’t Click Through reported that Outsell (a consulting firm for publishers) conducted a survey of online news users. The finding that stopped me was that 44 percent of those in the sample of about 2,400 did not click to read the full news story. The number strikes me as high. I flip through a newspaper and read one story every two or three pages. Online I read even fewer. The number seems startling judging from the pick up and comments on the story. In our work, we have found more skimming than reading. I look at more short items and read only the longer items that hit one of my interests. My hunch is that I am not alone.
Third, I was surprised to read “Google Nexus One’s First Week of Sales Were Weak, Report Says.” Google is a secretive outfit. Where did these data originate? Flurry. That’s a research firm about which I know little. Google discloses a great deal. There are SEC filings, patent documents, and technical papers that appear in peer reviewed publications. Google cranks out blog content and generates a staggering amount of documentation for its various APIs and some services. I am not sure what “weak” means and I will wait until info from Google turns up in open source info streams.
These three stories are almost ideal for attracting clicks. Are these stories accurate? Maybe.
Stephen E Arnold, January 23, 2010
A story written for no dough. Trapped in an airport, I will alert the next uniformed professional whom I see of this sad situation.
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