Twitter climbed to the #84 spot in market share last week while Digg landed at #85, according to new data just released by Hitwise. The data analysis company credits the heavy Twitter traffic related to the U.S. Airways crash into the Hudson River for helping bring the site over the edge. Twitter’s success is likely even larger than it appears here, too, as these figures do not take into account Twitter usage originating from cell phones.

Twitter is also rapidly growing in the 25-34 age range, with 45 percent of its traffic now coming from that group. Only 12 percent of Twitter’s traffic was within the 25-34 group one year ago. Digg, in comparison, currently has 20 percent of its users in that range.

Another interesting note: While Digg’s traffic comes largely from Google, Twitter’s comes largely from social networks.

Not too shabby, eh?

Twitter Overtakes Digg In Traffic is a post from: The Inquisitr

Traffic to online retail websites in the United States has declined for 8 consecutive weeks, according to new figures from Hitwise.

Visits to a custom category of 500 retail websites declined 3% for the week to October 25 vs the same period last year. Traffic to retail websites as a percentage of overall US internet traffic dropped from 3% last year to 2.92%.

Traffic to retail sites increased 14% in the period June to August, then declined 4% in September vs the same period in 2007.

Heather Dougherty, research director at Hitwise said the results have wider implications then just online retail

“These declines have strong implications for the upcoming online holiday season as well as offline sales. Everyone is aware of the role that the Internet plays to influence offline sales through research, so this slowdown may indicate a further ripple effect in sales in retail locations.”

The largest sector seeing a decline was music down 21% and computers down 18%.

Online retail websites feel economic crisis is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hitwise reports that Google Chrome reach 12th spot in the software category Tuesday, higher that Mozilla, but below Microsoft’s Download Center.

Notably, Hitwise reported that 79% of traffic for Google Chrome came from the front page of Google itself.

There are no solid marketshare figures available from third parties yet, but for visitors to The Inquisitr, the numbers a strong. two weeks prior to launch on the left, visitors since launch on the right.

The figures show next to no drop for Internet Explorer, down only 0.41% post Google Chrome, compared to 4.71% for Firefox and Safari down 2.61%, proving perhaps that Mozilla has the most to fear from Google Chrome.

Some others are reporting a drop in Internet Explorer use, but tend to be more tech oriented blogs as opposed to having a broader reader base, which is something The Inquisitr has more of. It will be interesting to see what other non-tech blogs report in the coming days and weeks.

Update: StatCounter confirms that Firefox is taking a hit.

Google Chrome taking market share from Firefox is a post from: The Inquisitr

Web metrics are an interesting game. Like TV ratings, web metric firms take a sample of viewers and extrapolate those figures to represent the entire internet audience. Statistical measurement may be a scientific study, but ultimately the figures are only ever as good as the sample, and the smaller the sample, the higher the chance that the results are inaccurate. Web analytics services have the same issue: they can’t possibly know the true traffic of every site, they can only create a calculated guess based on the sample size.

What follows is a brief overview of each player, how they gather their stats, and what I think of them. The conclusions will no doubt be disagreed with by some, but in noting that, it can only be expected when the stats each service provides are subject to debate themselves. Ultimately though, the better we understand the methods used, the better understanding we may have of the results.

Alexa

Alexa has long been the web’s favorite whipping boy in web analytics. The Amazon owned service was founded in 1996 primarily as a recommendation service, with traffic stats being pulled from each installation of the Alexa toolbar. For most of its history, the toolbar was Alexa’s only source of statistics, and was only available for Internet Explorer.

Things changed earlier this year when Alexa started fresh, announcing that they would be resetting their stats and using external data as well as their toolbar data to report web traffic.

The methodology has always been flawed, and although it may be marginally better now, it is far from perfect, and yet people keep on using Alexa. The simply reason why: Alexa has become the defacto standard in web analytics because they have always been the most open in reporting their stats. Alexa also allows for easy comparison between sites, creating demand for the tool as a way to measure sites against competitors, even when the statistics themselves may have been flawed, after all, they are flawed for everyone, including the competition.

comScore

NASDAQ listed comScore has a $610 billion market cap, so although you may not be able to freely access their statistics, they are a true success story in the space. I’ve had access to a comScore account in the past, and the depth and variety of statics they offer is brilliant. They also have huge sample audiences, said to be in the millions in the United States alone, but the methodology is rather interesting.

comScore gathers data through monitoring software distributed under brands including PermissionResearch and OpinionSquare. One such offering is the Marketscore Internet Accelerator, a Windows tool that offers users (as the name suggests) quicker internet access. comScore’s particularly corporate friendly Wikipedia entry suggests that comScore is no longer using such services, so I can only go on that, but in previous years comScore used what has been called by leading publications spyware and malware to build its sample audience. There was also a confirmed case (per the Wikipedia entry) of this software being installed without permission, and even stories at one stage of comScore tracking tools being bundled with Kazaa.

comScore will no doubt claim they are clean today, but they still rely on installed tracking software that is often bundled as part of other packages as an incentive to install. The real question is whether this data collection method delivers the best and most accurate statistics in the market.

Hitwise

Like comScore, we don’t see a lot of Hitwise data in the wild as they sell the data and don’t offer it freely on demand. We do see Hitwise stats though on a regular basis through controlled releases, and the company has a solid outreach program with blogs and the media.

Hitwise gathers its data by buying the information directly from internet service providers. In Australia they buy surfing data from Telstra, the country’s biggest ISP, and in other places have similar deals in place.

Hitwise data isn’t absolute, and like the others they take the sample data and extrapolate that across all internet users, but the data isn’t sullied by toolbars or internet accelerators, so it is somewhere closer to being representative. Of all the web metrics firms, I’d put my most faith in Hitwise data, with the proviso that like any set of stats, it can never be perfect when it doesn’t capture all data.

Quantcast

Relative new comer Quantcast is growing in popularity with a service that offers free comparable statistics to Alexa.

Quantcast gathers its data two ways: from a panel, and directly. The methods behind the panel data isn’t explained by Quantcast, but it would be fair to presume that it would be somewhat similar to comScore, given that Quantcast doesn’t offer a toolbar or install of its own, at least from the Quantcast site. Quantcast allows web site owners to embed code on their site so Quantcast can track traffic directly, delivering actual statistics for participating sites as opposed to panel only estimates.

Quantcast claims that their combination of panel and direct data gathering delivers a holistic model of internet audiences. In my experience, their embed under reports stats, but not so outrageously as to make it unusable. Quantcast is the natural successor to Alexa: it may not be perfect, but they at least give aggrieved site owners the opportunity to correct the stats by feeding real data into the system, and that is always going to be a positive.

Compete

Compete freely offers basic data on US traffic, but unlike others ignores non-US traffic, a sort of stunted statistical tool. Data gathering includes a combination of ISP’s, opt-in panels, application providers, and users of the Compete toolbar.

Compete has become popular is some circles, but I not sure why. The stats seem reasonable, but in a global economy, US only traffic might have some use for advertisers, but it will never show the complete picture. Compete stats should only ever be used when considering a US audience. They should NEVER be used as being indicative of true traffic for any site.

Google Trends for Websites

Google launched Google Trends for Websites earlier this year, and it looked like Mountain View might have been on a winner. The service pulls data from various external services, Google search and Google Analytics, although as Google has told me previously, not directly, and only anonymously…which I think means that the Google Trends stats don’t actually reflect reality even if Google has the data at hand. The service has possibilities, and expect Google to offer more data in the future.

Conclusion

No provider of web metrics offered today is perfect, but some services are better than others. For corporate metrics Hitwise offers the best bet, gathering its data from ISPs so the incoming data spread is wider than relying on panel statistics from installed tracking software. For free stats, Quantcast offers a similar depth to Alexa but with the added bonus that over 10 million sites are contributing real data.

(image credit: McHumor)

Which web metrics service is best? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hitwise mapped out the startup’s traffic from its first days until now. The chart speaks for itself:

The site’s dropped to number 34 in search engine traffic, according to Hitwise data. Analysts also found the bulk of its current users are 55 or older.

Not too Cuil.

(Image: Hitwise Intelligence)

Cuil Not So Hot Any More is a post from: The Inquisitr

The research company has released a list of the top 20 Web 2.0 sites based on U.S. visits in July. It used Wikipedia’s definition of a service designed “to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”

Drumroll, please…

1. MySpace — 44.14% market share
2. eBay — 16.22% market share
3. Facebook — 13.03% market share
4. YouTube — 9.88% market share
5. Wikipedia — 4.76% market share
6. Craigslist — 3.14% market share
7. Yahoo Answers — 1.41% market share
8. myYearbook — 1.05% market share
9. Tagged — .95% market share
10. Flickr — .86% market share
11. Bebo — .71% market share
12. Meebo — .59% market share
13. BlackPlanet.com — .52% market share
14. GaiaOnline.com — .45% market share
15. Blogger — .40% market share
16. Adam4Adam — .35% market share
17. hi5 — .35% market share
18. WikiAnswers — .33% market share
19. IMEEM — .31% market share
20. LiveJournal — .30% market share

Hitwise points out that many of these are still independent and non-acquired. Also of note: Digg did not receive enough traffic to crack the top 20, according to the analysts.

Top 20 Web 2.0 Services is a post from: The Inquisitr

New analysis out from Hitwise today shows Facebook taking 45 percent of all social network traffic in the UK in June. Both Bebo — now in second place, with 25 percent — and MySpace — in third, with just under 15 percent — have lost significant numbers over the past several months.

Perhaps more intriguing, though, is the deeper analysis ranking all sites considered Web 2.0 — not just social networks. Facebook is still a strong first in the UK there, but YouTube is the next most visited service. Bebo came in third, Wikipedia was fourth, and MySpace was down to fifth for the month of June.

On the whole, HitWise says one out of every five URLs accessed in the UK belonged to one of those five services.

MySpace Slipping In UK Traffic is a post from: The Inquisitr

The number crunching, by research firm Hitwise, found 20.67 percent of Digg’s outbound traffic went to a news/media site in June — barely less than the 21.34 percent that went to an entertainment site.

Here’s why it’s significant: The news/media numbers are up 16 percent from this time last year, while entertainment is down 20 percent. And the gap between the two is closing rapidly.

Interestingly, too, the news sites receiving the most of Digg’s traffic are print media web sites. They took in 9 percent of all outbound clicking — a figure up nearly 50 percent from last June.

Could it be a sign that Digg is inching closer to a merger with some major newspaper company? Hard to say for sure — but with all the rumors out there, these numbers sure do make you wonder.

Digg Moving Rapidly Toward News: Sign of an Acquisition? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hitwise actually predicted this week’s launch of Lively, the virtual chat world introduced Tuesday, and also predicted the Google Health service launched before it in May. It’s no magic trick, though: Analysts there started looking at data of Google’s clickstream traffic. That lets them see what types of sites are getting the most traffic from Google — and thus have highest interest to Google’s users.

“Our thinking was that Google might want to fill natural gaps in its portfolio of offerings based on the interests of its users,” Hitwise UK VP of Research Heather Hopkins explains. “We looked at which categories are receiving the most traffic from Google in which Google does not have its own property.”

Back in January, health and entertainment topped the list. The newest analysis shows cars and tunes as the most likely next targets, leading Hitwise to put its money on Google Auto and Google Music for the future.

Hitwise has sure had decent odds thus far. Might be time to place a friendly office bet and see what happens.

Prediction: Google Auto & Music Up Next is a post from: The Inquisitr

Media measuring company HitWise released its May data this morning. The researcher found Google took a full 68 percent of all U.S. searches in the month, followed by Yahoo at just under 20 percent, MSN at about six, and ask.com at four. Other smaller engines made up the remaining searches.

In the UK, Google’s lead is even stronger. HitWise measured Google getting more than 87 percent of all searches in May, leaving Yahoo and Microsoft-based searches with only about four each, and ask.com with just over three percent.

It’s an increasingly common trend for the search giants. Both ComScore and HitWise showed Google with a sizeable lead in April as well, though significantly less extreme than the May results show. That data also marked the first time Google had overtaken Yahoo in terms of overall traffic, not specific only to searches.

Google Gains Another Winning Month is a post from: The Inquisitr