widgetBeat…

Standards for widget analytics emerging

March 14th, 2008

by Al Merkrebs, March 14, 2008 @ 11:49 a.m. PDT

Jodi McDermott, aka “widgetgirl,” is one of the leaders in the Web analytics and widget analytics world. She’s an active member of the Web Analytics Association and is co-chairing a WAA subcommittee for drafting analytic standards for Web 2.0, including widget analytics.

Yesterday she posted the insightful article “Engagement with a widget” that reveals some of her thinking on how widget use on the Internet can be measured.

McDermott references “grab rates,” “shared rates,” “active rate vs. ‘churning off’ rate” and many others. She also breaks widgets into categories and offers specific metrics for each category.

The need for standard widget metrics is obviously huge. Big brands starting to use widget advertising are increasingly in search of meaningful metrics.

But she wisely concludes that “none of these metrics in isolation are going to answer the question of ‘What is your customer’s level of engagement?’ The metrics are simply a set of tools provided to help the widget creator analyze their content that is specific to their business goals and objectives.”

The field of widget analytics is an important area to keep our eyes on, and McDermott’s views are a good portal into it.

Entry Filed under: widget in sight