Several months ago I started using Google Analytics with this blog. I was wondering if people were really coming to the site anymore. I haven't been posting that much, and I don't think the content has been particularly outstanding. If you are unfamiliar with it, the service tracks everything from page views to the screen resolution, operating system, browser, etc of your visitors. It's an abundance of information, and a little scary how easily accessible all of that information is. Just a small segment of code and you have an an abundance of information.
I've gotten visitors from Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. Why? Most appears to be from using blogger.com's random next blog feature (yes, it also tracks what page you came from, if it was a link to my site.) I'm not a big fan of that, so I'm looking how to opt out of that. I don't know if you can, but the fact that random people all over the world are looking at pictures of Landon is a bit unnerving. The blog was not really intended for that. I guess ignorance is bliss; I never thought anyone outside of friends and family would be viewing this content. I know, the easiest way to lock that down is restrict it to certain email addresses, but I find that annoying and being able to send a friend a link is a lot easier. Maybe security needs to start winning over ease of use? I have a feeling the blog would die if I made that change, what do you think? If you have a blog, I'd recommend using the service, if only out of curiosity. Being able to see all of that information is pretty cool. I'm a big geek, so maybe it's just me and my fascination with numbers and patterns.
Anyway, what have things been like for the site? Well, here's the past 2 months worth of visitors
Here is a list of the cities based on city of origin of the IP address.
And a map of the cities, just for fun
Make sure to click on the pictures to enlarge them. Pretty interesting stuff. That's just from the past 2 months. What is interesting is that I've had 51 unique visitors, so most visits are repeat. The majority of others are people clicking through the blogger feature until they find something they like, which isn't this site because those average times spent on the site are less than 3 seconds. Not all are like that, though. I've apparently got a fan in Pelotas, Brazil (5 visits) and 1 in Shenzhen, China (2 visits, over 5 minutes each time). Hello, random internet friends. Also have some "regulars" in Franklin, North Carolina (4 visits) and Farmville, Virginia (3 visits) as well as 1 time visitors from Hull, Massachusetts, and New York, New York who stayed on the site over 5 minutes each. Who knew Farmville was a real city? They should setup a Farmville museum and get all the fanatics to come visit the real Farmville, but that might require stepping away from their virtual farms, so it might fail gloriously. Speaking of failing gloriously, check out this Verizon iPhone fail. Yes, it's old now, but so awesome.
Why did I post about this? Well, mainly because I thought it was interesting. Also, I wanted to show how easy it is for anyone to collect information about you when browse online. Ever wonder how ads seem to magically fit where you live or what you like? Thank Google. It goes a lot deeper than this, since they can also track what products you search and click on and then predict what ads you will most likely click-on. Invasion of privacy or convenient feature? Hopefully everyone isn't freaked out too much. No, I'm not using this for anything other than seeing if people still visit the blog and, in turn, if it's worth keeping up with it or if no one cares if I shut down for good. Also, I'm pouring over this information often. I honestly have not looked at is since before Landon's birthday, at least. I noticed the lack of comments (likely due to lack of posting) and remembered I could see how many people were visiting. It looks like there are 3-5 everyday viewers. Sorry to disappoint you 3-5 with my lack of posting. I promise I will try to be better.
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