When measuring site traffic, one number isn't enough
Media managers have long had access to simple statistics about their product's consumption. Newspaper publishers, for example, have relatively easy access to circulation figures. But more detailed information about consumption habits traditionally has only been available via extensive research, often from outside providers.
That is far from the case online, though. Free blogging platforms track statistics as do most media-sharing sites such as YouTube or Flickr. Rare is the service that even charges to get such information. And free services such as Google Analytics allow anyone with a website insight into how content is being consumed.
But knowing how to interpret those data can be a difficult task. In fact, some argue that all of this data isn't necessarily a good thing if nobody knows what it means. James Robinson, director of web analytics at The New York Times, is quoted as saying that all of this data is useless if it's not being used to learn about how people are engaging with content. He said "it's not about the data, it's about the insights....it's not about the page views or click-throughs - it's about making New York Times customers happy."
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Besides his work with the Center, Andrew Chavez is a regular freelance contributor to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram where he covers general assignments and contributes photos and videos. He is also the former editor of the TCU Daily Skiff, the campus daily at TCU, where he helped oversee the publication’s developing online presence. He has also worked as a staff photographer at the Clovis News Journal. Andrew is currently a graduate student in the Schieffer School.
