Hitwise’s Robin Goad takes a look at trends in UK internet visits over the last three years. The figures suggest that traffic to social networking sites, news and media, and entertainment sites is outpacing that to transactional sites e.g. shopping and classifieds sites.
“[J]ust because people are using the web more, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are spending more money online,” he writes.
A double ed’s pick here with some thoughts on online advertising and e-commerce: first figures from Hitwise suggesting that Twitter is driving traffic towards media sites, but not retailers.
“[W]ith one or two exceptions (most notably Dell, which claims to generated $3m via Twitter), very few transactional websites have yet used Twitter to drive sales. During May, Google UK sent 365 times more traffic to transactional websites than Twitter. Given that Twitter has yet to settle on a business model that will take advantage of its huge, loyal user base, this is an issue that needs to be addressed by the people that run the company if they are to make the service a financial as well as popular success,” writes Hitwise’s Robin Goad.
Emerging platform, but no guaranteed financial model (yet) – which leads to a piece from Read Write Web last week on the decline of Google’s AdSense.
The service gained success because it met the needs of publishers, advertisers and users, but now each of these parties is starting to spot problems, writes RWW’s Bernard Lunn.
But, adds Lunn:
“If AdSense is in decline, that leaves open a big market for entrepreneurs. Publishing is not a winner-take-all market. Google will not control all online inventory. Advertisers and their agencies like choice. And users click on whatever is relevant.”
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Journalism.co.uk is attending the Digital Editor’s Network meeting at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) today.
Topics being discussed include user-generated content with Hitwise’s Robin Goad and hyperlocal news sites with CN Group’s Nick Turner.
Follow @journalism_live for updates and see the liveblog below:
This bit of the post is buried right down, but Hitwise’s latest analysis indicates that:
“…the Guardian currently receives more traffic [via Twitter] than any of its competitors. And not only is its homepage the top recipient of Twitter traffic, but three of its sections (Technology, Comment is Free, and Media) also appear in the top 10.”
The data Hitwise has collected also shows “last week Twitter received more UK internet visits than the homepages of the Guardian, Times, Sun and Telegraph. It also over took Google News UK.”
There are a couple of caveats, however. Robin Goad reports:
The Sun’s online coverage of ‘baby father’ Alfie Patten broke traffic records for the site. Hitwise’s Robin Goad analyses how search and social media played a part in this.
“The experience of the Telegraph shows that Digg’s US-bias on can be overcome, but that content sites need to actively encourage their readers to use the service in order to achieve this,” writes Hitwise’s Robin Goad.
The website of The Independent newspaper – one not know for its popularity, sophistication or embracing of the internet – has doubled its share of the UK online market over the last year, according to Hitwise.
“The market share of the UK Independent, which has traditionally lagged behind most of its rivals online, has more doubled over the last twelve months,” wrote Robin Goad, research director, Hitwise UK.
“It was the seventh most visited website in our News and Media (Print section) in March putting it behind the Daily Mail, Times, Sun, Telegraph, Guardian and FT, but ahead of the Mirror and Express”
Hitwise measures the relative success of a website by the share of UK-based internet users it attracts over a given period.