Do we care if it's Web Analytics 2.0 or 3.0?
Heck! We might live on different (virtual) planet, but I'm fascinated by our top web analytics minds gently arguing about which version of web analytics is most promising. I have a lot of respect for Avinash Kaushik and Eric Peterson and reading both of their recent posts had me stop, think for a few minutes, and go back to my web analytics 1.0.
Web Analytics 1.0
From the Web Analytics Association web site:Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage.It's a good start! The web is the center of the universe, everything revolves around it. But it's amazing how many web sites are so badly constructed that we don't even need web analytics to optimize them. And then, the relatively small percentage of companies who addresses web analytics are barely using what's at their disposal...
Web Analytics 2.0
According to Avinash Kaushik:"1) The analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from your website and the competition 2) to drive a continual improvement of the online experience that your customers, and potential customers have, 3) which translates into your desired outcomes."Now we look at what surrounds us to understand our own role in the universe. Already better!
Web Analytics 3.0
While Eric Peterson doesn't give a clear definition of what would be Web Analytics 3.0, his examples stresses "location" is key to Web Analytics 3.0:"the next technology era will be characterized by our collective ability to access the Internet anyplace, anytime"Ok! Now we will be able to know where we are, and where everyone else is...
Sorry, I digress!
It's always interesting to see where things could be heading, what they should be in a not so distant future. But as soon as we realize what we call the "Web" and the "Internet" exists only as part of a bigger ecosystem, where energy and communication flows from the real to the virtual, and vice-versa, we can only come to the conclusion that merely measuring the medium and it's immediate surrounding is not enough. Avinash focus on the online experience and Eric finds the holly grail in the ability to precisely locate the source of the interaction. In my humble opinion, they are both right and wrong.The Web and Internet ecosystem encompass quantitative and qualitative elements, physical and virtual organisms, online and offline interactions that are functioning together within legal, ethical and technological constraints. From that angle, things like a website, competition or location can't, by themselves, explain the complexity of what's going on. They can merely improve the science of analysis that will eventually lead to better insight.
It's too easy to fall in the "e-pit" where anything and everything becomes a reason to stick an "e" in front of a word. We shouldn't do the same in the web analytics world.
In the end, "web analytics" is to "analytics" what "ebusiness" is to "business". Doing one without the other is a waste of time and energy.
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Shocked? You think I'm crazy? Did I miss something? Talk to me!
6 comments:
Good point, but when I tried to comment I wrote a blog post. See my feedback to your post here:
http://blog.webanalyticsdemystified.com/weblog/2007/09/stephane-hamel-on-web-analytics-20-and-30.html
As I say in the post, I'll buy beers in D.C. so we can continue the debate.
Yours,
Eric T. Peterson
http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com
I totally agree and have written my thoughts on this whole web analytics 3.0 mess.
Thanks
Britney
I believe that Peterson meant users can access the Internet from anywhere in the 3.0 paradigm. (so-called mobile Internet, that doesn't really work today but probably will in the not so distant future if (a) the economics of the connectivity problem is solved (b) users do not complain about tiny screens and (c) battery life can improve.
There are certainly implications for webAnalysts.
With all the noise surrounding Apple's iPhone (Berrys, Nokias and lots of other smart devices notwithstanding) it could be useful to start tracking access from mobile devices. And yes, the location of the device will be very meaningful.
Eric:Boy! Do I like those conversations! :)
While most companies struggle with their websites, minimalist metrics and anecdotal insights, it's important to have people like you and Avinash look ahead, far ahead, to make a plan of action that will eventually lead to "anyplace", "anytime" analytics, and much more.
When studying an ecosystem, there's a whole bunch of different sciences that gets involved, each one looking at the same thing from a different angle and a different power of magnifying glass. Sometimes our understanding of reality gets distorted until the "science" is mature enough to explain the unexplainable. In the meantime, most of us have good enough instruments and data to spend years studying the "what", "how much", "why", "what else" and maybe, just maybe, end up with more than a gold nugget.
Is there such a thing as "nirvana of analytics"? :)
Stéphane: Absolutely right, but in the end, a phone is just another device and another channel than can be measured. The real challenge, in my opinion, is to look beyond individual metrics and make sense of them as part of the larger business ecosystem. We want to reach the level of "analytics", not just "web analytics".
Oh Boy ! you made my day
i think this is one of your best posts ! and i'm 100% agree with your comment.
Thanks :)
Being the owner of a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet, a device that include Opera (a Javascript and Flash enable browser.) I think that Web 3.0 is already a reality, but with a 800x480 resolution, I don't think we need to measure my visit differently than another visitor.
Those devices will emulate they computer counterpart. I don't think will need to do anything special about it. It only confirm that the internet is here to stay for a long time and will be use more often.
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