What are the strengths of comScores panel-based approach to measuring Web site audience ratings compared to the use of Web logs and other approaches?
The use of Web log data (aka Web site server data) to measure the number of unique visitors to a site relies on cookies (small text-based identifiers) that are placed on the computers of site visitors, and which determine if the visitor is a new or repeat user of the site. However, since users have the ability to easily clear cookies from their computers (increasingly prevalent today because of the use of anti-spyware software), this approach is vulnerable to significant error if the rate of cookie deletion is meaningful. In June 2007, comScore published the results of a seminal study of cookie deletion, which showed that 30% of Internet users clear their cookies in a month. Among these cookie deleters, we observed 5 different cookies for the same site over the course of a month. These results mean that a count of unique site visitors derived from Web site server logs will typically overstate the true number by at least 150%. There are three additional sources of error in using Web sit
Related Questions
- Thousands of images on the web don have a copyright notice, watermark, or Digimark®. Since nobody bothered to copy-protect them, why can I just download them for my own art and web site?
- What are the strengths of comScores panel-based approach to measuring Web site audience ratings compared to the use of Web logs and other approaches?
- Does Web Delivery Impact the Reader-Response Approach to Technical Communication?
