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Showing posts with label analytics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label analytics. Show all posts

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Jobs for Data Scientists Explode Across The Market

bigdatajobs.jpg

In what's likely just the beginning of a long-term story, job listings indexed by employment search engine Indeed.com indicate that market demand for data scientists and people capable of working with "big data" took a huge leap over the last year. David Smith of Revolution Analytics performed several related queries and posted the results today on his company's blog.

The most common definition of "big data" is datasets that grow so large that they become awkward to work with using on-hand database management tools, such as Excel. It's a soft term and is super trendy right now - but that doesn't mean the trend's not big and real.

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Monday, July 4, 2011

#Google’s Six-Front War - Techcrunch

The Browser Front:

The Mobile Front:

The Search Front:

The Local Front:

The Social Front:

The Enterprise Front:

It’s easy to pile on Google given their size, their wallet, and their global influence and impact. They are the goliath, and have been for many years, and are now facing many challenging tests, all at the same time. And while it’s a fun parlor game to sit around and pontificate about how Google’s reign might be over or how slow GMail loads, the reality is that no other company could compete legitimately on so many different battlefronts against so many different competitors. There’s no way Google can win each battle, and they must know that, but they will win some, and it will be fascinating to see how the company both adapts and stays the course along the way. Google is not going to go down without a fight, and it could take another decade for all of these battles to play out. The company has some of the world’s brightest engineers, a stockpile of cash, and incredible consumer Internet mind share, worldwide. Sit tight.

 
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Thursday, June 30, 2011

#Google #Analytics & Webmaster Tools Now Track the Impact of Tweets, Likes and +1s

Social Plugin Tracking generates three reports: Social Engagement, Social Actions and Social Pages. Social Engagement tracks behavior changes (time on site, pageviews, bounce rate, etc.) for visits from social plugins. Social Actions tracks the number of social actions users take on your site, and Social Pages compares your pages on the number of social actions they are receiving.

These tools give website owners a great deal more insight into the impact of social on their websites. Tracking social just makes sense, especially as social sites drive more of the web’s traffic. We also suspect that Google also wants to encourage more sites to adopt the +1 Button. Raw data showing that +1s increase web traffic is the most convincing thing Google can provide.

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Friday, June 24, 2011

#Data is the new platform, and #social is the intelligence — #Tech News and Analysis

Michael was on hand to present the Accenture Technology Vision 2011, a cross-industry research project that takes stock of the evolving trends in IT and how they will impact business and society as a whole. The research team looked into 400 hypotheses based on input from scientists, architects and engineers. They found fifty that held true, which they consolidated into eight trends:

  • Data takes its rightful place as a platform.
  • Analytics is driving a discontinuous evolution from business intelligence.
  • Cloud computing will create more value higher up the stack.
  • Architecture will shift from server-centric to service-centric.
  • IT security will respond rapidly, progressively—and in proportion.
  • Data privacy will adopt a risk-based approach.
  • Social platforms will emerge as a new source of business intelligence.
  • User experience is what matters.

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10 kick-ass features in Google Analytics v5 | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing

Google Analytics version 5, coming soon to a browser near you, addresses some major shortcomings. Here are ten features you’ll want to check out, the moment they’re available:

1: Multi-touch attribution

This is the big one. The brass ring. The Big Woo. You can now track how different channels, like organic search and pay-per-click marketing, contribute to each conversion on your site. Until now, you could use first- or last-click attribution.

If you don’t know what this means, and the implications for marketing, read my 2-part post about attribution.

A simple example: I can do a quick Venn diagram showing how much different marketing types contribute to each other:

Multi-touch attribution in Google Analytics V5

check out the link to see the rest of the features..

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Friday, June 3, 2011

#REPORT: #Facebook Ads Surge Despite Lag In ROI

Brands are making a big push [on Facebook]. At an effective [cost per impression] that’s well under half as expensive of most TV or glossy magazine buys, brands are seeing that they can easily equal the reach at much more attractive frequency, so it’s becomign the awareness and interest builder of choice.

In contrast to more expensive advertising destinations like AOL and Yahoo! where CPMs can be $15 – $25 or even higher, Facebook is reportedly hovering at somewhere between $4 and $8.

The last finding from this report that stood out was that newspaper advertising dollars appears to be the greatest source of Facebook’s growth.

Read more at www.allfacebook.com

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Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Socialbakers launches a #Facebook page management system - #CMS - Socialbakers

Create your posting plan

The benefit of our technology is that it allows you to easily create your posting plan, have it approved by client and launch it in pre-defined times. This is a very powerful feature for teams handling their Facebook communication as it will allow them to collaborate on their Facebook approach within one interface.

Assign response to your team

Another cool thing we would like to introduce is a very easy to use tab creator. Within just a few clicks you will be able to launch fully customized applications directly on your Facebook Page. We start with two applications at this moment – Quiz and a Static tab. More of them are already in development but what’s even cooler – we will open our platform for the 3rd party developers which will easily implement their tab solutions into our system. The benefit of this solution is that creative agencies will be able to implement their set of tabs into our system and then offer it as a complete Facebook management solution to their clients.

Launch customized Facebook tab

These are the initial key features which we believe will make the system very effective and easy to use. And of course, what would it be for a Socialbakers product if it hadn’t had an Analytics integration!

Try our system now at http://cms.socialbakers.com and get 14-day trial at no charge, or try a free version of our system, which includes:

  • Wall post scheduling
  • Access for up to 2 admins
  • 1 Active Facebook tab

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Checkout #Optimization: Are You #Testing The Wrong Thing? « Get Elastic #Ecommerce Blog

According to Forrester Research, only 11% of consumers report their last abandoned cart was due to a long or confusing checkout. Only 12% believed the site was asking too much information, only 14% were unwilling to register with a site.*

The most common reasons customers bailed boiled down to “sticker shock” (due to high shipping charges, taxes or other fees, or a high product price), the desire to comparison shop, and simply not being ready to check out at that moment. (Good ol’ FUDs).

No matter how pretty your cart button, how short your checkout process or how clear and usable your form fields, you can’t save these sales. But that doesn’t mean you can’t optimize your site for non-usability factors of shopping cart abandonment.

Let’s take a look at 5 top reasons why customers abandon, and how you can address each Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

comScore Launches Online Video Measurement Service in Turkey - comScore, Inc

Facebook Most Popular Online Video Destination in Turkey

Social networking site Facebook is not only among the leading web destinations in Turkey, but it also ranked as the most popular destination for online video with 17 million viewers in February 2011. During the month, viewers watched nearly 792 million videos on Facebook, for an average of 46.6 videos per viewer in February 2011. Google Sites ranked second, largely driven by viewers of YouTube videos, with 15.4 million unique viewers and 690 million videos watched during the month. Dailymotion.com ranked third with nearly 14.9 million unique viewers, followed by the largest Turkish platform Nokta Medya. More than 7 million Turkish internet users watched a total of 43.6 million online videos from Nokta.com.

Top 10 Turkish Online Video Properties*
by Total Unique Viewers (000)
February 2011
Total Turkey, Age 15+ – Home & Work Locations**
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property Total Unique Viewers(000) Videos (000)
Total Internet : Total Audience 20,203 2,909,891
Facebook.com 16,990 791,846
Google Sites 15,390 690,194
Dailymotion.com 14,883 167,312
Nokta.com Medya 7,088 43,595
Mynet A.S. 6,755 37,049
Vidivodo.com 4,775 17,146
Yahoo! Sites 4,165 14,416
Timsah.com 3,017 11,751
Zapkolik.com 2,925 9,129
Haber365.com 2,674 15,783
*Rankings based on video properties; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.
**Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs

“Online video viewing has become an essential part of the digital consumer experience in Turkey with 9 out of 10 internet users consuming video content every month,” said Mike Read, senior vice president and managing director, comScore Europe. “Despite its high user penetration, online video remains a relatively nascent industry with continued growth potential as consumers begin to shift from primarily short-form user generated content to long-form professionally-produced content.”

Young Audience Shows Highest Engagement with Online Video

In February 2011, 89 percent of the Turkish online population consumed online video and watched an average of 144 videos per person totaling 14.8 hours of viewing time during the month. Online video engagement, however, showed significant differences by age and gender. Males between the ages of 15-24 viewed 200 videos each, accounting for an average of 20.8 hours of online video viewing during the month, while females in this age group viewed just 12 hours and watched 122.5 videos on average. Online video appealed least to females over 55 years of age, who only spent 8.4 hours watching 91.1 videos per viewer during the month.

Demographic Profile of Online Video Viewers in Turkey
February 2011
Total Turkey, Age 15+ – Home & Work Locations
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Target Audience Total Internet
Videos per Viewer Hours per Viewer
Total Audience 144.0 14.8
All Males 164.0 17.1
All Females 114.1 11.3
Males - Age    
Male: 15-24 200.2 20.8
Males: 25-34 159.5 17.0
Males: 35-44 128.0 12.7
Male: 45-54 120.7 12.5
Male: 55+ 102.1 11.6
Females - Age    
Female: 15-24 122.5 12.0
Females: 25-34 105.1 11.0
Females: 35-44 113.9 10.9
Female: 45-54 110.1 10.3
Female: 55+ 91.1 8.4

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Monday, April 4, 2011

Multivariate Testing 101: A Scientific Method Of Optimizing Design - Smashing Magazine

Do’s And Don’ts

I have observed hundreds of multivariate tests, and I have seen many people make the same mistakes. Here is some practical advice, direct from my experience.

Don’ts

  • Don’t include a lot of sections in the test.
    Every section you add effectively doubles the number of combinations to test. For example, if you’re testing a headline and image, then there are a total of four combinations (2 × 2). If you add a button to the test, there are suddenly eight combinations to test (2 × 2 × 2). The more combinations, the more traffic you’ll need to get significant results.

Do’s

  • Do preview all combinations.
    In multivariate testing, variations of a section (image, headline, button, etc.) are combined to create page variations. One of the combinations might be odd-looking or, worse, illogical or incompatible. For example, one combination might put together a headline that says “$15 off” and a button that says “Free subscription.” Those two messages are incompatible. Detect and remove incompatibilities at the preview stage.
  • Do decide which sections are most worthy of inclusion in the test.
    In a multivariate test, not all sections will have an equal impact on the conversion rate. For example, if you include a headline, a call-to-action button and a footer, you might come to realize that footer variations have little impact, and that headline and call-to-action variations produce winning combinations. You get a powerful section-specific report. Below is a sample report from Visual Website Optimizer. Notice how the button has more impact (91%) than the headline (65%):

    Mvt-small in Multivariate Testing 101: A Scientific Method Of Optimizing Design

  • Do estimate the traffic needed for significant results.
    Before testing, get a clear idea of how much traffic you’ll need in order to get statistically significant results. I’ve seen people add tens of sections to a page that gets just 100 visitors per day. Significant results from such a test would take months to accumulate. I suggest using a calculator, such as this A/B split and multivariate testing duration calculator, to estimate how much traffic your test will require. If it’s more than what’s acceptable, reduce some sections.

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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Salesforce Buys Social Media Monitoring Company Radian6 For $326 Million

Commented Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce:

With Radian6, salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring. We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings.

Founded in 2006, Radian6 helps companies monitor the social web (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube, forums and so on) in order to provide actionable insights in real-time and thus enable its clients to effectively join conversations with customers and prospects.

The company just made an acquisition of its own, snapping up one of its resellers, 6Consulting, to establish a presence in the UK.

Salesforce expects the transaction to close in its fiscal second quarter ending July 31, 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Testing Checkout Sign-In Pages: Inspiration Gallery « Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog

The checkout process is a popular area of your site to test, and for good reason. When a visitor has added items to cart and clicks the “proceed to checkout” button, it’s a good indication of purchase intent! But often carts are abandoned early in the process – even at the login screen. Your design and copy on this page have a major impact on whether customers figure out which option is right for them (sign in, create account or guest checkout) and make it smoothly through to the next step.

As I’ve written about before, Amazon and Sears’ radio button approach is likely the “path of least resistance.” But if you want to test for yourself, the following is an inspiration gallery of 4 different approaches to log in: the aforementioned radio button, two-option, three-option and expanded/one-page.

Must read for anyone involved in usability and web design..

View/comment on the original post at blog @cankoklu

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

How should a social media report look like? - Socialbakers

1. Total number of fans

Yes, it is an important metrics to follow, although, not the only one. Having a good base of fans is always good for your brand.

2. Stable positive growth

Besides number of total fans, you should also take into consideration the daily/weekly/monthly growth of fans on your Page. Is it relatively stable or are there big ups and downs? Your fan base should be always steadily growing. Make sure you do not start losing fans. If that happens, try to identify why are your fans leaving you. Is it a wrong content on your Wall or simple loss of interest?

3. Regular postings on your Wall

Connecting with your fans on a regular basis allows you to give your fans daily information from your company. Make sure you post regularly and don't spam your fans.

4.User wall posts and interactions

While analyzing your Page, you should always look into the number of user wall posts and also their interactions (likes and comments on your wall). This way, you are able find out if your Page is "alive", if it has engaging fans, etc. Having tens of thousands of fans is nice, but they are worthless if they don't interact with you.

5. Evolution of your Engagement Rate

Keep your audience interested by posting regular and engaging posts. If the total engagement on your Page drops, analyze your content to find out why.

6. Response rate

Facebook is all about communication. Fans expect you to talk with them. Make use of this platform and engage into conversations with your fans. They will appreaciate it.

Here is a simple report which analyzes all of the above mentioned metrics on two Facebook Pages compared to each other. We decided to compare Vodafone UK and T-Mobile USA.

 

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Test your Website: A 57-Point Checklist for Maximum Usability | Virtual Hosting Blog

So you’ve got a website, but do you know whether it’s usable or not? The answer to this question can make the difference between a successful site and one that’s just ignored. Go through this checklist to make sure your site is up to snuff.

  1. Do you answer your user’s questions?: Users visit a site because they want answers, so it’s vitally important that your site gives them what they are looking for.
  2. Is your navigation clear and simple?: Make sure that your navigation lets the user know where they have been and where they can go in a clear, consistent manner.
  3. Do you provide anchor text?: Ensure that your visitor always knows where links are headed by discussing the site before you ask them to "click here."
  4. Does your design guide the eye?: Use color, position, size, and more to create a specific flow for your site.
  5. Do you start link names with important keywords?: Use important keywords in your links so that users know when they’ve found the right information.
  6. Is your wording straightforward?: Take a look at your language to make sure it’s simple enough for all users to understand.
  7. Does your writing look like an inverted pyramid?: Give web users the instant gratification they want by offering the most important information early on.
  8. Do you have "white space?": By placing too many elements too close together, you may overwhelm users. Spread things out a little.
  9. Have you offered contact information?: If your site doesn’t answer all of a visitor’s questions, they will probably want to speak to you about it. Allow them an easy way to contact you.
  10. Do you change URLs?: Don’t. This creates linkrot, in which links to your site are broken, and discourages other sites from linking to you in the future.
  11. Do you have a site map?: A site map is very important for a large site, because it helps lost users find their way and also makes it easy for search engines to spider your site.
  12. Does your information look like an ad?: Users will ignore information if it resembles a promotion, so avoid using large red text and other design elements found in advertisements.
  13. Does your site require unnecessary plugins?: Be aware that not everyone’s browser is fully decked out. Use a plugin only if it adds value and is absolutely necessary.
  14. Have you enabled graceful degradation?: Be sure that even if your site can’t display certain elements, the rest will still function properly.
  15. Does your logo link home?: Users expect that your site’s main logo will always link to your homepage, so make sure you’ve done this.
  16. Have you grouped information?: Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for by arranging related information together, such as your corporate history alongside your career offerings.
  17. Do you provide visual clues for links?: Make sure that you’ve made your links obvious with colored, underlined text.
  18. Have you used color properly?: Avoid placing light-colored text on a light-colored background, or it will be hard for visitors to read your content. The same goes for dark-on-dark.
  19. Do you support deep-link users?: Check all of your site’s pages to make sure a user could orient themselves if they arrived on that page before any other place on your site.
  20. Is your site organized with a consistent structure?: Be sure to include headings, lists, and a unifying structure from page to page.
  21. Do you show users where they’ve been?: Differentiate between visited and unvisited links so that visitors can navigate with ease.
  22. Is your text annoying?: Use bold, italic, and upper-caps text sparingly.
  23. Do your graphics mean anything?: If your graphics seem irrelevant or frivilous, users won’t be impressed, so make sure that any images you use are directly related to the content.
  24. Do you date your content?: Don’t make users guess about which content is current and which is obsolete. Add dates to articles, press releases, and other content.
  25. Is your site full of animation?: Cut down on unnecessary animations to avoid overwhelming the user.
  26. Have you optimized your writing for the web?: Ensure that your text is short, scannable, and to the point, offering answers and common language.
  27. Do your links work?: Always double check your site for broken links, as they’re one of the worst user annoyances out there.
  28. Do you have a tagline?: Use a tagline to give visitors an extremely quick summary of what you do and what the site’s about.
  29. Do you offer prices?: If you’re using your website as a sales tool, it is vitally important that you answer what is almost certainly your customer’s biggest question-how much is it?
  30. Do your error messages help?: Take a look at your error messages, and consider whether they just tell the user they’re wrong, or if they actually provide suggestions for how to remedy the problem.
  31. Have you tested alternative browsers?: Although the majority of the Internet is still on Internet Explorer, it’s vital that you make sure your page renders correctly in browsers like Firefox, Safari, Opera, and more.
  32. Does your content require horizontal scrolling?: Cut down on user annoyance by ensuring that your page’s width does not exceed your visitor’s browser.
  33. Have you added descriptions to images?: Let your users know what purpose an image serves by placing information in the ALT and TITLE attributes.
  34. Do you link within a page?: If so, cut it out. Linking to a different position on the same page will confuse visitors and undermine their understanding of the browser.
  35. Is your design consistent?: Don’t leave users guessing whether they’ve stumbled upon a different site. Use similar colors and typefaces throughout your entire site.
  36. Is your name and logo on every page?: Don’t assume that just because a user is on your site, they know who you are. Place your name and logo prominently on your site.
  37. Have you accelerated to the next step?: Make it painstakingly easy for users to see where they’re supposed to go next.
  38. Does your FAQ answer real questions?: If your FAQ is full of questions that you only wish your visitors would ask, you need to reassess. Make sure that you’re actually featuring frequently asked questions so that the FAQ is actually useful.
  39. Can users find information quickly?: Follow the 3-click-rule, which states that users will stop using a site if they can’t find the information they want within 3 mouse clicks.
  40. Is your information cluttered?: If so, you need to break pages down into different sections.
  41. Are your forms too much trouble?: Cast a critical eye on your forms to make sure you’re allowing flexible inputs and not asking for unnecessary information.
  42. Is your site accessible for users with disabilities?: Check to make sure your site is readable by those with disabilities, especially the blind.
  43. Are your fonts readable?: Make your text readable by avoiding small font sizes and allowing font resizing.
  44. Is your site broken down into digestable chunks?: Follow the 7, plus or minus 2 principle, which states that users can retain only about 5-9 things at one time.
  45. Does your page load quickly?: Make sure your pages load quickly so that your website is friendly to those on slow Internet connections, or who have to pay per minute of Internet access.
  46. Is your title descriptive?: Make sure that your page title makes sense for the content you offer.
  47. Does your site render correctly in different screen resolutions?: If you’re only optimized for 1024×767, you’re rendering your site incorrectly to a lot of visitors.
  48. Offer a search function: Make it incredibly easy for users to find information by providing a search box.
  49. Have you outlined a privacy policy?: It drives users crazy to give away their contact information without knowing what will be done with it. Make it explicitly clear whether you’ll sell their email address, and how often they’ll get email from you.
  50. Do you have a liquid layout?: Frozen layouts and fixed page widths make it difficult for large browsers to render your page, and this design poses problems with printing.
  51. Does your content have spelling errors?: Check your content for errors in spelling or grammar, and don’t rely solely on a spell-check function because sometimes that software’s online engineering isn’t perfect.
  52. Use tabs responsibly: Use tabs to change views while still in the same context, and make them incredibly readable and logically broken up.
  53. Is your splash page absolutely necessary?: Most users prefer to get right to the content instead of watching and waiting for a splash page to complete.
  54. Do you have a brandable URL?: Use a short URL so that it can be easily relayed from one user to the next, and you’ll make viral marketing easier to come by.
  55. Have you filled out TITLE and META tags?: Make sure you’ve filled out this information to let users and search engines know what your site’s all about.
  56. Do you emphasize high-priority tasks?: Make sure that your homepage highlights the important actions you’d like visitors to make.
  57. Do users know when they’re clicking an email link?: Ensure that users know when to expect their email program to pop up.

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Benchmarking digital marketing Presentation > Smart Insights Digital Marketing

View more presentations from Dave Chaffey.

Why benchmarking your online capabilities matters

I believe that external and internal benchmarking of your digital marketing capabilities is important for managers reviewing their online strategy since it answers these types of questions:

  • Are we effective+efficient in our digital marketing?
  • What is the “size of the prize” – are we tapping into the market effectively?
  • How do we compare to direct competitors?
  • How do we compare to out-of-sector competitors – we need to know this if we want to be best in breed?
  • How can we see where we’re strong and weak through internal data?

So benchmarking helps highlight failings which can be worked on, but also shows how we companies can strive to be best-in-breed as they progress towards their goals.

View/comment on the original post at blog @cankoklu

Friday, February 18, 2011

Google Opens Up Infographic Tools for Everyone's Use | Co.Design

Today, Google has opened up the tools on its Public Data Explorer, so that you can use them to chart any old data set you might have laying around. "If you're a student or a journalist or a teacher, you can upload your data and get the same visualizations that we have for our own product," Ben Yolken, Google's product manager for the Public Data Explorer, tells Co.Design.

The tools were first rolled out a year ago, after the company bought up the Gapminder Trendalizer, a bubble-chart data-viz technology invented by Dr. Hans Rosling, the infographics guru/health researcher/acclaimed TED genius.

[Dr. Rosling showing off the Gapminder Trendalyzer, upon which Google's Public Data Exporer is based]

Thus, on the PDE site right now, you can see all manner of amazing time-based data animations, such as the relationship between fertility and life expectancy in the last 50 years; 20 years of U.S unemployment data; and even STD transmission in the last 15 years.

[Dr Rosling show how rich the tools are]

Now, to use all these nifty charts, you just have to put your data into a special format developed by Google, which is adapted to each of these visualizations. Afterward, you can share that data with anyone you want as a Google Doc.

View/comment on the original post at blog @cankoklu

Gawker’s Gulp Moment: Big Redesign Is Driving People Away

About ten days ago, gossip blog Gawker and its sister sites Gizmodo, Lifehacker and others switched over to a drastic redesign which was met with plenty of jeers. People always complain about design changes, but this time it looks like several of Gawker’s sites actually took a major hit to traffic.

According to Quantcast, which directly measures the sites, Gawker’s U.S. daily unique visitors were cut in half from a high of 561,000 to 257,000 (see chart above). Gizmodo dropped from 746,000 to 420,000 in the U.S. Sitemeter shows an even more harrowing freefall for Gizmodo (see chart at right). Jezebel and Deadspin also took hits. Only Lifehacker seems to be holding steady.

View/comment on the original post at blog @cankoklu