Can You See Me Now?
The meter is ticking… When asked by a fellow blogger if my stats had gone up after Loose Leaf was listed in the Roanoke Times “Blogging in Southwest Virginia” list, and after my friend, Fragments Fred, who was also listed, told me his had gone up, I had to admit that I didn’t know anything about blog stats and that it was time to learn more about them. So I did some investigation; then I picked Fred’s brain a little, which resulted in a brand new stat counter on my site effective as of last Wednesday.
I don’t think there’s any going back, once one has a site meter or a stat counter, but I also think it’s a mixed blessing, one that makes me ask, “Is anything off the record?” It’s helpful and sometimes a kick to know where your blog hits are coming from, anywhere from as far away as Egypt, Turkey, and Switzerland to Canada and Mexico in the first couple of days, I discovered. But it also makes me feel a little bit snoopy.
On the other hand, I also feel slightly exposed. While a stat counter can’t tell you who has visited your site (Thankfully. That’s more than I can handle knowing), it can, in most cases, tell you what country and city they’re from, what link they were referred to your site by, how long they stay logged on, and how many pages they looked at. Through stat counts, a blogger can discover that she may have what is referred to as “lurkers,” people who spend a lot of time on her site but don’t leave comments.
I also found out through my research (Who Links Here?) that some of the comments I’ve left on other people’s sites have turned up on google and other searches engines. While I realize that my blog entries are on the record, I don’t think of my comments as such. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have a subversive streak in me. Will my blogging habits come back and haunt me someday?
Mostly the stat counter is useful and fun, and the most fun part of it is that I got to call my Asheville potter son – who loves the Red Sox and likes to use the word “stats” at least a few times a day – to say, “I’ve got stats!” I also wanted to report that two people found my site by googling his name! Who knew?!
May 16th, 2005 9:43 am
Thanks for visiting my blog, and for the birthday wish.
I have the same Statcounter which think is very interesting and a little creepy too (because of the info that can be gathered). I don’t have a very large readership so I am not sure it is going to serve much purpose other than feeding my narcissism. lol
May 16th, 2005 10:33 am
The one I have you “can” tell who has visited and who has visited and not left comments. I’m not sure how to take that…should I be thankful they came or do I should I be offended they didn’t leave a comment? Then you see what weirdos are really out there! Which counter do you use? Mine is softeware wings…it’s the butterfly ;0)
May 16th, 2005 10:39 am
I wouldn’t want the one J&J’s mom has….now that is too much information. What do you do with it??
May 16th, 2005 4:39 pm
I too wonder if my blogging and commenting will come back to haunt me. My children seem to think so and advise me often to be careful of what I say, not to name names or give identifying info. They are afraid of identity theft. Are we too naive??
May 16th, 2005 6:56 pm
Hi Colleen,
Thanks for visiting my site. I had noticed yours on the Roanoke list and visited it a few times too.
The StatCounter you have is in my opinion the best available. I use it on all my sites.
I have not had much of a traffic increase since be listed, but I have not be on there long. It will be nice to get some readers from SWVA.
I do blog about Floyd County on occasion. Its a very beautiful place. I travel through there on 58 sometimes.
Thanks again.
May 16th, 2005 7:26 pm
Cool! How do you get a stat counter? You know I still only put things in my blog that my grandmother could read. I too have a fear of things coming back to haunt me.
May 17th, 2005 1:05 am
I also have the same stat counter and I find it amazing how much infor mation can be gathered by it. I’m now much more self-conscious when I visit other people’s blogs. I’ve thought about getting rid of it because I’ll spend too much time looking at the stats, but I hope that eventually my fascination with them will die down.
When you visited my site you asked my what an INFJ is. Thank you for your question; it made me realize I should provide that information in the sidebar. An INFJ is my Myers-Briggs personality type. I provide this information as a quick way for people to get a general idea of who I am.
This page explains in depth whst an INFJ is:
http://www.infj.com/index.htm
And this page is a post from my blog that gives some basic information and links to more detailed information about Myers-Briggs (MBTI for short):
http://blackcurrantjam.blogspot.com/2005/05/decoding-your-four-letter-personality.html
I try to follow the the policy of not putting anything on my blog that wouldn’t be willing to discuss with somebody interviewing me for a job. I also just noticed that my comments to other blogs are searchable too. I guess it’s a good policy to apply there as well.
May 17th, 2005 9:14 pm
Hm, I didn’t realize comments were googlable either. Does it depend on the platform. I could see this one being findable with it expanding into a #comments page but blogger and typepad too?
So far as Identity theft, I think its perhaps oversold. Robin Williams has identity theft. A commoner jo or joanne is so unlikely to be affected by it, it’s in the hit by lightning or win the lottery range, imho.