Informative overview of changing trends in online audience measurements, with a focus on how it affects news providers. It introduced me to new information I was not aware of, such as the work of the Media Ratings Council. But besides the industry observers cited in the article, I would have liked to hear the perspectives of some of the key players, such as Google, ComScore or Nielsen. And although the article suggests that unique visitors did not become widely used until 2006, I should point out that we were already using monthly unique visitors as a our primary metric back in 1998, when I worked at Macromedia's shockwave.com. Aside from that minor discrepancy, this reports is factual and quite insightful.

As a web designer, the analytics for some of my clients are a crucial element they use to base many decisions. I have been somewhat skeptical of some of these tools, and wondered how accurate they are. This report is helpful in pointing out areas where the information is routinely skewed.

Okay - I'm totally bias.... take my review for what it is. In truth, this issue can't be encapsulated in one article - I talked to lots of people about it and everyone has different answers/solutions/issues. As we move our lives online - at least for the sake of business - we need an accurate way to gauge web metrics. While my review should be taken for what it is (a review from the bias author) - I'll extend an open invitation to anyone who wants to query me about it in more depth: http://newstrust.net/webx?224@@31430f8@.f51ef66

A bit of insider discussion of questionable metrics; good geek factor, but not greatly clarifying.

I learned a lot reading this piece about web-metrics. Cohn discusses how institutions, from media companies, rating companies, and rating certifiers, are trying to come to grips with tracking traffic on the Internet. He stays away from digging into technical issues. Great read. Disclosure: David is Contributing Editor on NewsTrust.