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Another Suggestion for Google Analytics - “Link Event” Alerts

Yes, sharing Analytics would be great, but that’s not my only suggestion.

As a new blogger, I’m particularly attuned to “Link Events” - those anomalies where traffic spikes like crazy due to a mention on another site, getting Dugg, or whatever. Often I don’t find out about these till the next day when Google Analytics has updated; that’s a big missed opportunity as I try to capitalize on link events by putting out a custom message targeted to visitors from a specific page.

So - here’s what Google could do for me: based on Analytic’s knowledge of my average daily traffic, send me an SMS and an Email when there’s a link event and traffic is surging. Tell me:

1. The time it started.
2. The referrering domain and page.
3. How much traffic I’m getting per minute.

Do this in real time. I don’t care if the main analytics readout doesn’t update for a few hours, but use your datastores to make time-sensitive info available when its needed.

Theoretically other services could provide this as well - whos.amung.us, for instance, or MyBlogLog, or the WordPress Stats plugin. Maybe this service is being offered already somewhere? If so, please let me know.

analytics, google, linkevent, mybloglog, suggestion., techfold wordpress

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Yahoo: Showing Signs of Being Alive

Yahoo has been all over the place recently, generating news and controversy in spades with bold moves to revitalize their properties, consolidate their core markets, and exit businesses with little future. David Dalka breaks the news that MyBlogLog, acquired previously by Yahoo, is due to get a new brand, new look and feel, and new features.

Finally, Yahoo seems to be showing signs of stirring - whether prompted by the PBM or otherwise.

There’s 4 signs of life that have been in the news recently:

1. Consolidating: Yahoo is closing Photos, focusing on Flickr. Say what you will about their methods, at least they’re eliminating some of their massive redundancy.
2. Focusing on Positive ROI: Goodbye Yahoo auctions.
3. Stirring up Strategic Discussion: the whole Microsoft Acquisition monster-under-the-bed has gone nowhere (which is a good thing), but more importantly shows that Yahoo is thinking strategically and (to some degree) pro-actively.
4. Investing in Acquisitions: the previously mentioned Flickr news, and David’s coverage of the MyBlogLog story are heartwarming - Yahoo is actually trying to capitalize on the value they paid for. Compare that to - for example - Google’s handling of Dodgeball.

My late night summary? Perhaps Yahoo is ready to come back and compete with Google - if not on core search tech, then at least with everything else.

mybloglog, peanutbutter yahoo

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How to Make Cluztr the Next Big Thing in Four Easy Steps

Yesterday, Mashable pointed me to Cluztr - a new “social” browsing site that, through a browser add-on, tracks your and surfaces your clickstream. Cluztr incorporates elements of Digg, Del.icio.us, and MyBlogLog into what is effectively an in-the-cloud, social browser history. Cluztr uses this social history to introduce you to others in style of MyBlogLog.

Business Model & Privacy

The first thought I had was that whatever business model Cluztr has must revolve around selling the clickstream data they collect. Which it does:

We may provide aggregate statistics about our customers, sales, browser type, operating system, Internet, domain, demographic and profile data, traffic patterns, and related site information to reputable third parties, but these statistics will not include personally identifying information. [Privacy Statement]

Cluztr’s privacy policy also describes a retrograde-sounding “opt-out” spamming policy, whereby Cluztr will use your clickstream data to target you for advertising until you email them to opt-out:

We may use personal data to let you know about products and services that may be of particular interest to you. We may also want to provide you with related information from third parties that we think may be of interest to you. If you would rather not receive this information, please send an e-mail to: info@cluztr.com. [Privacy Statement]

Hmmmmm. So, Cluztr is in fact a market research house and advertising engine of the sort that regularly raises such hue-and-cry, when - for instance - someone finds out the DoubleClick uses cookies to track your clickstream across the internet.

And that’s OK - you’re trading your clickstream data for the value proposition of online history and social browsing, and by downloading and installing the Cluztr add in, you’re explicitly accepting this (compared to DoubleClick’s cookie tracking that took place unknown to most). Additionally, Cluztr does promise to aggregate/anonymize data, offers the (cumbersome) opt-out option, and allows you to identify sites in your history as “private” - though apparently you cannot set your entire clickstream to private.

Spam and Gaming

Cluztr has a great feature that creates a Digg-like popularity list of what sites are “hot” at any given moment. Unfortunately, this list is game-able. See the blurred out ones above? Those are pr0n sites - “sex latin chick gets ——” is not the sort of internet gold that I want to stumble across.

How to Make Cluztr the Next Big Thing

Cluztr has a great peice of infrastructure, and a social/viral model to potentially take it big. A few tweaks to the business model and site functionality could make it a very useful tool - and drive adoption.

1. Get a new name: “Cluztr” is awkward and goofy sounding. I’m sorry, but it is. The equation worked for Flickr as novelty propelled awareness, but that easy brand-equity has gone away. Additionally, Cluztr doesn’t really speak to what the site does, it looks awkward, and its more difficult to describe the spelling of than Flickr.
2. Ditch the Vocabulary: This is an addendum to the first point. Cluztr refers to popular sites as “cluztrs” - presumably because users are “clustering” around them. Jeff Nolan summed up the folly of creating your own lexicon when I called out Teqlo for using “Teqlets” instead of widgets:
   

   Every startup wants to develop their own vocabulary and at some point they realize what a stupid idea that is. We figured that out about 2 months ago…

3. Flip your Advertising to Opt-In: Credibility will drive adoption, and going the opt-in route as opposed to the current negative-enrollment (you’re signed up unless you do something) model will drive credibility. This isn’t Columbia House (the king of negative enrollment sales) - this is the brave new fronteir. Kick it up knotch.
4. Automated Categorization & Filtering: Yeah, its going to be a bitch to do, but it needs doing. GMail, Google Reader, and Porn shouldn’t be in the top “cluztrs,” or listed anywhere on the site for that matter. Neither should fully parameterized domains with people’s user id strings and hashed authentication tokens. This could be done with machine intelligence if Cluztr took the time to build the database that would feed it, or could be done with community filtering via a “flagging” system.

Summary

Though this profile may sound pessimistic, I do think the idea has legs. With a filtering system and a few tweaks, Cluztr has the potential to bring together the best of del.icio.us, Digg, and MyBlogLog in a simple to use fashion with a viral model that drives membership - real value can be delivered to Cluztr users, and Cluztr advertising/research clients alike. That’s compelling.

browsing, cluztr, delicious, digg, mashable, mybloglog social

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