Microsoft Live Spaces has something like 75 million spaces, and about 125 million unique visitors a month (at least those were the last numbers I saw shared).
WordPress.com, according to Automattic’s CEO (that’s the company that makes WordPress), Toni Schneider, in an interview I had with him yesterday, has 400,000 WordPress.com blogs, but has 25 million unique visitors per month.
Which service is going to be more attractive to advertisers? Which one builds a better business?
I wonder if anyone is doing a comparison of readers per URL among all the blogging services (and MySpace and FaceBook too)? Anyone doing research on these kinds of metrics?
Scobleizer 
Visitor per URL can be an important metric, but as certain authors I know keep pointing out, it’s not the number of visitors to one’s blog that matters, but the influence of those visitors to take action from the information on the blog [something about a certain blog only having three readers but they’re world leaders] 😉
Using a blog service, or belonging to certain communities can bring readers. We host our own blogs using b2evolution [the other descendant of b2/cafélog with wordpress], but most traffic to our Open Source Solutions blog & podcasts comes from our Open Source Business Intelligence lens on Squidoo.
The long tail as influenced by social networks, of one form or another.
LikeLike
Visitor per URL can be an important metric, but as certain authors I know keep pointing out, it’s not the number of visitors to one’s blog that matters, but the influence of those visitors to take action from the information on the blog [something about a certain blog only having three readers but they’re world leaders] 😉
Using a blog service, or belonging to certain communities can bring readers. We host our own blogs using b2evolution [the other descendant of b2/cafélog with wordpress], but most traffic to our Open Source Solutions blog & podcasts comes from our Open Source Business Intelligence lens on Squidoo.
The long tail as influenced by social networks, of one form or another.
LikeLike
Joseph: readers might not be that important to you or me, but they are to advertisers who pay for these things. Also, the bigger the audience the more likely there will be rapid growth in the future. Why? Cause someone reading here might say “that guy’s an idiot, if he can do it, so can I.”
LikeLike
Joseph: readers might not be that important to you or me, but they are to advertisers who pay for these things. Also, the bigger the audience the more likely there will be rapid growth in the future. Why? Cause someone reading here might say “that guy’s an idiot, if he can do it, so can I.”
LikeLike
Readers are very important to us – even if we’re the only ones reading what we write. 🙂 Readers to into partners, customers, friends, critics… all very important.
LikeLike
Readers are very important to us – even if we’re the only ones reading what we write. 🙂 Readers to into partners, customers, friends, critics… all very important.
LikeLike
I seem to remember a prominent blogger correctly writing yesterday “I can’t wait for the ROI reports that show that Web 2.0 advertising doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t.” I wonder what will happen when the advertisers “who pay for these things” come to the same conclusion?
LikeLike
I seem to remember a prominent blogger correctly writing yesterday “I can’t wait for the ROI reports that show that Web 2.0 advertising doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t.” I wonder what will happen when the advertisers “who pay for these things” come to the same conclusion?
LikeLike
John: I like astute readers.
You do notice there aren’t any ads here, right? I noticed that too. Asked the CEO about how he’s gonna make money. You’ll have to wait for the video for the answer. Heheh.
Oh, and I talked with Seagate’s CEO today. So far he’s happy with what he’s getting from me. It certainly won’t be a traditional advertisement, that’s for sure. But I’m definitely delivering large files to you, which fill up your hard drives. Seems to me that’s important for a company that sells hard drives.
LikeLike
John: I like astute readers.
You do notice there aren’t any ads here, right? I noticed that too. Asked the CEO about how he’s gonna make money. You’ll have to wait for the video for the answer. Heheh.
Oh, and I talked with Seagate’s CEO today. So far he’s happy with what he’s getting from me. It certainly won’t be a traditional advertisement, that’s for sure. But I’m definitely delivering large files to you, which fill up your hard drives. Seems to me that’s important for a company that sells hard drives.
LikeLike
You can’t look at the number of blogs on Spaces and say that means anything. It’s the number of active blogs that counts, and there’s literally no way that the Active blog count is the same as the total blog count.
It’s a fun number to quote, but meaningless in the end.
LikeLike
You can’t look at the number of blogs on Spaces and say that means anything. It’s the number of active blogs that counts, and there’s literally no way that the Active blog count is the same as the total blog count.
It’s a fun number to quote, but meaningless in the end.
LikeLike
The benefit of blogs ofcourse is that they are open. Next to that blogs and profiles get mixed now. Look at mine(there is an about section, like most blogs). The open blog concept(with IM plugins??) might be the most attractive model in the end. See it like we used to live in villages not knowing what is going on 100km further. Now we have global reach.
Where is the money made? Probably with parties like Technorati. Enabling and connecting, helping me search and find(people, information, content)
Just follow the customer.. 😉
LikeLike
The benefit of blogs ofcourse is that they are open. Next to that blogs and profiles get mixed now. Look at mine(there is an about section, like most blogs). The open blog concept(with IM plugins??) might be the most attractive model in the end. See it like we used to live in villages not knowing what is going on 100km further. Now we have global reach.
Where is the money made? Probably with parties like Technorati. Enabling and connecting, helping me search and find(people, information, content)
Just follow the customer.. 😉
LikeLike
“I can’t wait for the ROI reports that show that Web 2.0 advertising doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t.”
That’s full of cr*p. It works indeed. What’s important is where you use it. People who read a blog about trends, fashion tips, or blogs recommending products are more likely to pay attention to ads in the site.
If you write poetry… try to sell poetry books and nothing else!
LikeLike
“I can’t wait for the ROI reports that show that Web 2.0 advertising doesn’t work. Of course it doesn’t.”
That’s full of cr*p. It works indeed. What’s important is where you use it. People who read a blog about trends, fashion tips, or blogs recommending products are more likely to pay attention to ads in the site.
If you write poetry… try to sell poetry books and nothing else!
LikeLike
Robert,
I tend to think that quality aout ranks quantity for at least some advertisers. Take Apple for instance (not trying to be a fanboy here) They have a very small overall market share which would make them seem unimportant to most people. With Apple it is not the actual market share numbers but who those people are. If you only have a 4% market share but most of those people are influencers I think this makes up for quite a few share points.
This is why when they announce Steve Jobs is going to blow his nose, the tech world stops to watch. Same with WordPress. Much smaller numbers but many more A-list bloggers.
LikeLike
Robert,
I tend to think that quality aout ranks quantity for at least some advertisers. Take Apple for instance (not trying to be a fanboy here) They have a very small overall market share which would make them seem unimportant to most people. With Apple it is not the actual market share numbers but who those people are. If you only have a 4% market share but most of those people are influencers I think this makes up for quite a few share points.
This is why when they announce Steve Jobs is going to blow his nose, the tech world stops to watch. Same with WordPress. Much smaller numbers but many more A-list bloggers.
LikeLike
It’s a fun number to quote, but meaningless in the end.
What? Hyperbole and inflated metrics from Microsoft? What? Surely you jest, they are always but the most honorable and steadfastly meaningful. Zune is an iPod killer you know…
(for the terminally clueless, note sarcasm)
LikeLike
It’s a fun number to quote, but meaningless in the end.
What? Hyperbole and inflated metrics from Microsoft? What? Surely you jest, they are always but the most honorable and steadfastly meaningful. Zune is an iPod killer you know…
(for the terminally clueless, note sarcasm)
LikeLike