32 Comments to “Speed Reader — Not the Same One”

1. May 19th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
   ann michael said

   Wow - I usually have just the opposite problem. I come here and read one or two things - find a thousand things I want to read and then my A.D.D. pulls me in another direction and my last page could be open for HOURS until I come back!

   Liz - what kind of stats software do you use? How do you know how many pages are accessed by a user and how long they’re on?????

2. May 19th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Ann Michael,
   I have Stat Counter on this blog and AW stats. But most stats programs will let you see which pages a reader goes to won’t they?

3. May 19th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
   ann michael said

   It could very well be that I’m dense and a total novice (which I am btw), but site meter and the basic typepad statistics don’t tell you how long a user was on and how many pages they accessed. I’ll have to look into yours. Thanks!

4. May 19th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
   ME Strauss said

   You’re Right! Site Meter doesn’t. I forgot about that. Site Counter does under a listing called Visitor Path and another one where you drill down under a specific page view. I like it a lot.

5. May 19th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
   Advice Librarian said

   Google Analytics does that as well, if you’re approved for it.

   I’m still waiting….

   (Yes, Liz - I know. I’m up waaay past my bedtime, but I just had to stop by and say hello before going to sleep.)

6. May 19th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Hi AdLib,
   I miss you when you’re not around. I’m glad you stopped in for a minute. Thanks!

   You’re right about Google Analytics. I had them, but my machine started doing some weird things and I took them off. Turned out it was something else. But it was all pretty complicated at the time.

   How’s your brother and the business plan.

   AdLib’s Brother and the Business Plan
   That sounds like a Book Titles.

7. May 19th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
   Advice Librarian said

   Well, he says what we have now is “good enough for the next six months, and I’m going to make you do this over then anyway, as a business plan Must Be Redone Periodically To Evaluate Your Business Process”

   I get scared when he speaks in capital letters like that.

   Then he went and assigned me some reading - now I’m supposed to read The Entrepeneur’s guidebook series from Bp30.com - although if I finish the part on time management by Monday he’ll let me have the whole week to finish the rest of the series.

   I wasn’t expecting homework when I asked for his help, but I should have seen that one coming.

   At least he’s promised me that we’ll finish that other homework assignment tomorrow

8. May 19th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Let me guess. This is your OLDER brother.

9. May 19th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
   ann michael said

   In case he gets crazy and wants the plan in PowerPoint - check this out!
   http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html

10. May 19th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    No, he’s three years younger than I am - but when I ask him for help I let him order me around since I assume he knows what he’s talking about. He’s the one with the degree in business and export marketing, mine’s in chemical engineering and computer science - we swap services.

    I supply the geekery and the fascination with writing, he supplies the business know-how. I’ve read reams of books specific to copywriting just because I got fascinated with the subject, he got hooked even worse and got an education in the field

11. May 19th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Ah, that explains how you could transform your blog in about 3 seconds flat, still write blog posts , and send me links on net neutrality all in the same day . . . You’re amazing!

12. May 20th, 2006 at 1:57 am
    Ohad said

    Google analytics does not provide me with this info for the simple fact that it does not show single user actions but the aggregation of them.
    My other web analytics (yeah, I am aparanoid and use 2) is performancing metrics which also does not show single user actions.

    Liz, could it be a bot that scanned your pages?

13. May 20th, 2006 at 7:24 am
    ME Strauss said

    Ohad,
    A bot? Hmmm. There’s an idea that I hadn’t thought of. I’ll have to look the next time. That could be the answer. Thanks Ohad! Though this one came from another country half way around the world . . .

14. May 20th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
    Chris Cree said

    I’m not a total tech head, but I would imagine that a typical bot would go through pages faster than 1 every 45 seconds or so.

    Maybe it’s folks who don’t understand English all that well and keep poking around until they find something they understand.

    Me, I’d be glad if someone looked at that many of my pages in one sitting. Too large a percentage of my hits are “0 seconds”.

    But then I’m not so worried about folks stealing my stuff yet. I’ve not been around long enough to witness that dark side of the web.

15. May 20th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Don’t get wrong, I think theft is a serious problem. But I’m a SUPER CURIOUS PERSON. I want know what is going on.

    The other thing that happens that I find interesting is that a person will togggle between three pages.

    Then, there is an occassional person who will for, say 8-10 days running will every day at the same time access my about me page. I figure that’s a minor crush kind of thing.

16. May 20th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
    Chris Cree said

    Maybe someone’s organizing it intentionally just to mess with your head….

    Nah. I think people just do weird things for no apparent reason most of the time.

    Like some wise man once said, “I used to worry a lot about what other people thought about me until I realized that 99.9% of the time they aren’t.”

17. May 20th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, I get that. I’m just a sucker for trying to figure out human behavior. I don’t think it’s about me.

    Every job I’ve ever had has depended upon understanding how people think and why they do things. Oh heck, when you’re weird . . . er not like anyone in particular . . . it does sort of become a survival skill just to sit back and observe to try to re-engineer thinking patterns that might be driving behaviors.

    Organizational behavior was my favorite class ever . . . Can you tell?

18. May 20th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
    ann michael said

    Liz - I can completely relate! I do that ALL the time! I’m often the one that has to get people to work together and if you don’t understand how they think and what motivates them it can be a bumpy road. I’ve often thought about getting another graduate degree in organizational behavior! We can go back to school together if you want

19. May 20th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey Ann Michael!
    That would be so very cool!
    People are a fascinating, if at times despicable, species. (I just like that word despicable. ) The things that motivate us are often beyond our own comprehension and yet so simple if you look at them from outside our actions.

    Really we’re all just 7 years old in grown up bodies.

20. May 20th, 2006 at 1:51 pm
    ann michael said

    OK - as soon as I can figure out a way to ditch my husband and three kids it’s off to school for us!

21. May 20th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Let’s see . . . If we could get my husband to be friends with your husband , . . hmmmmm . . . . What city are you in???

22. May 20th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
    ann michael said

    Hmmm….I’m in Philadelphia - but completely willing to travel. Think they have any neat graduate programs in Australia or maybe Hawaii???

23. May 20th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I’m in Chicago. We could fly out of here.

    That sounds great. I have lots of friends in Austrralia . . . Of course, so does Bologna

    PS. My husband says he’s going to sleep with one eye open.

24. May 20th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
    ann michael said

    Then we’ll have to rely on your cat-like movements in the middle of the night for your escape!

25. May 20th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I had no idea that my cat-like movements in the middle of the night were so famous. I thought only yours were.

26. May 20th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
    Chris Cree said

    Speaking of weird unexplicable behavior, I’m scratching my head reading the conversations you two have going…

    Do you suppose studying the behavior of people might be a bit like studying the weather? You can learn a lot about what happened and come up with cool theories as to why it happened. But in the end how useful is it to predict what will happen in the future?

    Not that I”m against studying, mind you.

27. May 20th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Ah, Chris,
    You could be right. On the other hand, every now and then folks do come up with something called a weather pattern . . .

28. May 20th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
    Chris Cree said

    Yeah.

    Then we start getting frisky and thinking we can actually predict what will happen (rather than what probably will happen).

    Maybe my problem is that I tend to look at people as individuals instead of groups. Individuals seem to be impossible to predict accurately. Perhaps groups would be easier somehow. I don’t know…

29. May 20th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
    ME Strauss said

    If you look pattern, you can predict the kinds of things that stress most of us, or make most of us laugh, or get most of us to pay attention. That can be valuable information. It doesn’t necessarily take away our individuality. I’m still weird as ever in the end.

30. May 20th, 2006 at 7:37 pm
    Chris Cree said

    So, the use of that gathered information would basically be marketing, right?

    I’m feeling a little like Forest Gump here. “I am not a smart man.”

31. May 20th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, Some marketers would call it marketing. Unfortunately, that’s as far as some marketers go. I like to think of it as the first step in understanding each other . . . trying to realize where we think alike and where we don’t.

32. November 11th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
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