The Hits Keep Coming With Dropping FriendFeed

Deciding on drastic measures was called for. Determining who is reading the blog and from where is part of refocusing. Dropping Friendfeed from the subscriber count cost over a thousand subscriptions; remaining readers now really stand out.

Above, the green line dropping is the day the blog RSS was removed from Friendfeed. Indicating readers each day is the blue line. No guessing but actual readership is steady if not up.

The goal is clarity. Stripping away the noise of systems such as Friendfeed is a start. Dropping redistributes to Tumblr is on the block next. Feed links go out a few other places but those are likely dead channels.

Noise gone I’m hoping to pay better attention to readers. Improving the experience and value for you, and for me.

A side effect of this change is noticing smartphone readers. Those numbers are now a noticeable percentage of visitors. Next steps there will be figuring out what platforms and what content they are hitting. (Interesting note: iPad was top mobile platform over the past 30 days)

Now here’s your part in the plan. You, you and you, speak up! Jump in and share how you’re reading, what you’re reading, and even when you read.

You don’t even have to comment, just read, read some more, and if you love it, share it.

Subscriber yet? Click here to subscribe if not.

tojosan

Accurate reader stats isn't directly about more readers, it's about understanding better who are the readers.In the end, I'll likely continue to share some content out to Friendfeed. It won't be automated anymore, but will require me to hit a button and push it there. That in turn will lead to easy to measure results from that posting.Of course all of this is just theory. I don't publish my subscriber stats as I'm not sure that # is relevant to anyone but me. Maybe in a month I'll feel differently.Your feedback does hit the nail on the head though. Thanks for stopping by and making me take a step back.

share flag

spam
offensive
disagree
off topic

Ben

Hmm, this is a tricky one...See, I totally understand your reasons for removing something that simply inflated your stats, as it'll make your stats much more accurate.But the reality is, more and more people keep track of blogs via methods other than subscribing to the feed.I do think plenty of people still subscribe, but my blogs seem to attract quite a few readers who do keep up with the blog, but who don't subscribe. Some of them click through from Twitter, in fact this is where a lot of my visits come from these days.I'd love to see a genuine 1000 subscribers on my main blog, instead of the figures being inflated by FriendFeed... but then people might ask what's wrong with my blog, because few people subscribe. Right, so then the solution is to hide the feed counter... but then some people will think you are hiding it for a reason (i.e. it's too low).I'm not sure what the answer is really. But I don't think FriendFeed is entirely inaccurate when added to your FeedBurner stats.

Accurate reader stats isn't directly about more readers, it's about understanding better who are the readers.

In the end, I'll likely continue to share some content out to Friendfeed. It won't be automated anymore, but will require me to hit a button and push it there. That in turn will lead to easy to measure results from that posting.

Of course all of this is just theory. I don't publish my subscriber stats as I'm not sure that # is relevant to anyone but me. Maybe in a month I'll feel differently.

Your feedback does hit the nail on the head though. Thanks for stopping by and making me take a step back.

Hmm, this is a tricky one...

See, I totally understand your reasons for removing something that simply inflated your stats, as it'll make your stats much more accurate.

But the reality is, more and more people keep track of blogs via methods other than subscribing to the feed.

I do think plenty of people still subscribe, but my blogs seem to attract quite a few readers who do keep up with the blog, but who don't subscribe. Some of them click through from Twitter, in fact this is where a lot of my visits come from these days.

I'd love to see a genuine 1000 subscribers on my main blog, instead of the figures being inflated by FriendFeed... but then people might ask what's wrong with my blog, because few people subscribe. Right, so then the solution is to hide the feed counter... but then some people will think you are hiding it for a reason (i.e. it's too low).

I'm not sure what the answer is really. But I don't think FriendFeed is entirely inaccurate when added to your FeedBurner stats.

Tweets that mention The Hits Keep Coming With Dropping FriendFeed | The Broad Brush -- Topsy.com says:

May 25, 2010 at 8:49 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Todd Randall Jordan, Paul Monaco. Paul Monaco said: RT @tojosan The Hits Keep Coming With Dropping FriendFeed http://bit.ly/bdrSAY [...]

The Hits Keep Coming With Dropping FriendFeed

Trackbacks