Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters | Bill Tancer

Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters | Bill Tancer | Making Sense of Where the Web is Going and How we got Here...

books:

Click: What Millio...

	Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters Bill Tancer Hyperion, 2008 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 44 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

What time of year do teenage girls search for prom dresses online? How does the quick adoption of technology affect business success (and how is that related to corn farmers in Iowa)? How do time and money affect the gender of visitors to online dating sites? And how is the Internet itself affecting the way we experience the world? In Click, Bill Tancer takes us behind the scenes into the massive database of online intelligence to reveal the naked truth about how we use the Web, navigate to sites, and search for information--and what all of that says about who we are.

As online directories replace the yellow pages, search engines replace traditional research, and news sites replace newsprint, we are in an age in which we've come to rely tremendously on the Internet--leaving behind a trail of information about ourselves as a culture and the direction in which we are headed. With surprising and practical insight, Tancer demonstrates how the Internet is changing the way we absorb information and how understanding that change can be used to our advantage in business and in life. Click analyzes the new generation of consumerism in a way no other book has before, showing how we use the Internet, and how those trends provide a wealth of market research nearly as vast as the Internet itself. Understanding how we change is integral to our success. After all, we are what we click.

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A Fun, Interesting, and Provocative Look at Internet Statistics

Bill Tancer presents the reader with complex data mining ideas in the most straight forward, folksy, and enlightening way I've ever seen. He challenges you to consider the staggering possibilities of being able to predict market behavior by culling search patterns form vast databases of Internet search logs. Some of his conclusions are startling, amusing, fascinating, frightening, and challenging - all at the same time.

Pouring through gigabytes of statistical data isn't exactly my idea of a relaxing Sunday afternoon, but doing so can and has reaped amazing benefits to the astute business that does the work. Example after example of actual human search behavior confounds conventional wisdom and gives keen insight into why economic results often defy stated beliefs and/or intentions on the part of the consumer.

Competitive intelligence based on Internet behavior patterns has just become a weapon of choice in my marketing arsenal.

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Making Sense of Where the Web is Going and How we got Here...

In "CLICK," Bill Tancer examines significant trends in the use and evolution of the internet- as a communication tool, information source, influencer of culture, and means of socialization. There is a lot of information within this concise book- about trends in internet usage, as well as reaching and marketing to the population that increasingly turns to the web for many aspects of daily life.

The analysis is a bit dry in spots and the book would have benefitted from a bit more of a common thread of a narrative to tie it all together a little better, but overall it is an interesting and helpful read.

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One Long Commercial!

"Click" indirectly explains what many of those cookies on our computers are doing - reporting back where we visit on the Internet, and how we got there (prior sites, browser entry - suggests issues of importance to potential buyers). The real purpose of "Click," however, is to fan interest in the author's employer - the website "Hitwise."

Hitwise's large database of Internet searches allows users to determine not only the preceding (vs. their particular area of interest), but also timing. For example, "What day of the week, or time of day?" is most important in generating customer interest, and even variations in seasonality. The data is gathered from multiple ISPs across the U.S. (other nations' data is also available), supplemented with multiple groups of Internet users who agree to be monitored and have supplied demographic data.

Hitwise's service is clearly valuable - not only because of its ability to provide quick insights, but also to reduce the political correctness coloring of data that comes with direct questioning.

On the other hand, with a few exceptions, "Click's" sales message soon wears thin. One of those exceptions was the author's insight into how to use Internet search information to accurately predict winners in shows such as "Dancing with the Stars." Another was Tancer's demonstration of how the data could be used to predict future sales (homes, specific movies, etc.), as well as some of the early mistakes he made in attempting to do so.

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Lessons in Learning How to Use Online Data for Market Research

Like many people who do market research, Bill Tancer loves data. He is also curious when tracking clicks on the Internet show trends that don't make a lot of surface sense . . . such as when searches for prom dresses zoomed in January. In this book, he gives examples of how measuring online activity can give you clues to seasonality, how other media affect Internet behavior, how fads can be tracked and anticipated, and who will win votes and popularity contests.

The book is really about competitive intelligence, the vantage point that Mr. Tancer has as general manager at online competitive intelligence firm Hitwise. That's the book's weakness from two perspectives:

1. Mr. Tancer knows very little about market research (and sometimes little about the subjects he studies) so he has trouble getting past the noise to the cause-and-effect relationships.

2. He's very anxious for you to know what his firm does (it's a sort of long infomercial).

Unless you really want to learn about online competitive intelligence as done by Hitwise, you can skip this book.

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