Subject: Re: about last night (repost after mail bounce) From: Milwnews@aol.com Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 23:13:37 -0500

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In a message dated 96-11-07 14:16:21 EST, agaffin writes in response to:

<< > My questions are who made these 50 million hits at CNN? And what were
their
 > motivations? 
 
 >Well, first divide that number by some factor to account for all the 
 graphics that got pulled down. I don't know how many graphics they 
 had up, but let's be conservative and say five per page.>

In actuality, CNN customarily has about 15-17 graphics loads on their front
page, and can be over 25 on a subordinate index page like their US area, plus
they use Meta tagging that may also get counted in there (though in fairness,
we don't know how they record and report "hits")  

Point is, one user accessing four different "pages" on their site could
account for "100 hits" and the more pages you visit the more the hits can
pile up in association with one visitor, which is why this measure seems to
remain impressive in press releases but should not be used by journalists
unless the site also provides data on how and what their "hits" are
measuring.

> So right 
 there you're down to 10 million users and even that is way high 
 because it assumes each one of those users called up just one page 
 and then left the site.>

And the number of specific visitors you attempt to extrapolate shrinks the
more areas they access.
 
> Then factor in the "gotta-know" people who probably hit the site 
 again and again and again (I got a message from one guy who kept 
 checking my site to see when I'd finally colored in S.C. and a couple 
 of other states).
 >In summary: hit counts, while impressive, don't tell you how many 
 people actually visited the site (although, 50 million hits in 
 general is an awesome number; but it's about what Netscape claims it 
 gets every day on its site).>

In my current column, on cookies, I point out that because of what I think
was a programming issue using JavaScript with cookies on Netscape's home page
search, you had 34 "hits" in just closing out regenerating cookie screens,
and if Netscape counted those as "hits" (don't know if they do but they
technically qualify) on one 10 minute visit I alone could have added hundreds
of "hits" to their count.
 
 > Think Globally, Act Locally, to cite a cliche.  If you know CNN, 
 PoliticsNow, etc., are going to do national numbers anyway, why 
 compete? Instead, set up a town or even neighborhood site and 
 whale the hell out of local races, something CNN won't/can't do. >>

While I generally agree with that approach, one lesson of election night is
to include the global with the local.  A lot of newspapers that didn't have
the traffic problems of the big "election central" boys, if they included
national information as well, enhanced their reputation with their clientele.
   So not only could they do a lot with local races they also could emphasize
that, albeit without some bells and whistles, they were a quick news source
on many fronts.
 
Dominique Paul Noth
Milwnews@aol.com
Internet Column -- Dom's Domain: Media Sites and Strategies
http://www.arcfile.com/dom
E-mail version: subscribe domslist at listserv@arcfile.com

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