So, What Are You Really Interested In?
The interwebs knows everything that you do because you have consciously (or sub-consciously) given it permission. As a result, you can’t really “lie” about what you’re interested in, where you “hang out” and what you “do” online since pretty much all of it is trackable.
Spooky, right? Sometimes it’s downright funny…
I know that you (yes you who are reading this blog but never admit it to me or in public) are reading my blog, every day, religiously. I know when you’re reading it, how much you read it, how long you spend on it, how you got here and where you went when you were done. I know, generally speaking, what you’re interested in and I’ve already noticed patterns in your browsing behavior. In some instances I actually know you’re name and can identify you.
Spooky.
It’s like what my Pastor reminded me of a few weeks ago (it’s not original, I’ve heard it a bunch of times): Show me your Bank Statement and I’ll show you what you’re interested in.
I think the same thing loosely applies to the interwebs: Show me your Browsing Analytics and I’ll show you what you’re interested in.
Huh. A good read here for more mind-food.
grin. Then I am a bit boring at the moment. I don't 'browse' much right now. I read what is in my reader (it's all IT and Christian (or both)), I stop off at some sport sites and log in to facebook (I admin my church's FB group, pimp my blog and wish people happy birthday.) (and I am in the perfect timezone to pick up your posts just as you post them in the morning)
Hmmm. Where was I before this and where did I go after responding, Mr.?
When I mention such deep analysis to business people who already have websites, – they are both surprised and a little spooked. I've even had some who've said – "I don't want to know". I'll often check html source to see if additional API calls are made. So…are you finding there's skewed numbers between Woopra, GAnalytics and SiteMeter?
BTW – the real creepy stuff is the real-time site monitoring.
Big (web)Brother is watching. What else is new?
It might be spooky, but it's the world we live in today. Analytic's are an amazing thing. I think this is just going to keep getting bigger and better.
Just recently did a bio cloud from tweetsheep; that shows the word cloud of the bio's of the people that follow you.
would be even more interesting if it was the bio cloud of the people I follow. Either way it does show some up a few facts.
And if I do a google search on my name (as I see Ron did on his blog) then I get to see all the comments I have made.
But one does not need to do that: I know I spend most of my browsing and wittering about video, blogging and social media.
Right over Here
I have a pastor friend who noticed that in the George Orwell book 1984, the idea that "big brother is watching you" was treated with fear, but now we surrender the same kind of information most willingly.
hey john! it's me paul. i wanted to ask u about your host dreamhost. Well I wanted to make a blog for korea and decided to sign up with them but i added ur promo code and it only gave me $50 dollars off so the total came out to about $70. Any ideas on how to make it back down to $30? email me back! hope all is well! hollaaz
I am doing This
ok, wiseguy, what did i click-on?f0ll0w the yell0w brick r0ad…puahahahaha!
Hrm.
Apparently I am interested groceries and gasoline! (Really not a whole lot of "fun" stuff happening in my monthly spending habits.)
you buy groceries on line? whack!
Yeah.Webvan still runs in my neighborhood, yo.
oh sick.
I have to confess I'm an analytics addict too. I recently did a book giveaway on my site, and I tracked where all the entries came from (referring sites), how long they stayed on my blog, how many pages they read, what city they were from, what their domain was, etc. It's kinda fun… What types of analytics do you use? Can you track how many Google reader subscriptions you've got and data about those people?