Web User's True Confessions Data Shows Internet Users Tell All to Search Engines

By Patricia Faulhaber

Click What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters, Bill Tancer Hyperion, New York, 2008

How many times have you typed in a search word or phrase looking for help with an area of your life that you have been too embarrassed to share even with your closest of friends or relatives?

Bill Tracer author of Click What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It matters, wrote, "When we look at the collective activity on confessional websites, and what we choose to confess to search engines in the form of search queries, we have a pretty accurate collection of what weights on our minds. While the Internet may cause us to withdraw from one another, the anonymity it affords us, like the screen in a Catholic confessional, allows us the safety to admit things we wouldn't normally discuss with anyone else."

And, why not? The Internet doesn't judge. Search results appear and give hope that there are others out in the world that feel the same way or are asking the same questions. The net gives us hope that there is a community out there that you belong.

Tancer tells readers in the opening pages of the book about how his company receives the data that is analyzed. Data collections come from ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and opt-in partners who first anonymize and aggregate the data before sending to the author's company so that the IP addresses are not known. The data is also scrubbed so that all of the phone numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers and other personal data are removed.

Why Analyze the Data?

Why is Internet usage statistics so important? The author writes that sample surveys are harder to get these days because of the do not call phone lists and because more homes have voice mail on the phone. Analyzing the behaviors of Internet activity is the more accurate way to collect data these days.
Tancer explores Internet user activity based on 10 million users and provides "unexpected insights for business and life".

The results of the analyzed data groups can be used for a number of reasons including:

Shows the psyche of Internet users.

Find marketing and promotional trends.

Realize and incorporate how the Internet is changing the way we experience the world.

Accept the 24/7 news on-demand.

The first part of the book explores the data inventories (quantity of searches entered and stored on ISP servers) of certain business and life sectors such as Porn, Pills, and Casinos, prom dresses, dieting, celebrity worship, phobias, super connectors, and many others. The second part of the book looks at practical actual uses and the theoretical uses for the data.

The Dark Side of the Net

Tancer starts out giving us facts about the dark side of the net or what he refers to as PPC (Porn, Pills, and Casinos). In many computing realms PPC refers to Pay Per Click, for this particular book, it stands for something much different.

Some interesting statistics reported in the PPC chapter so that the Federal Government believed in 2006 that only one percent of Internet sites contained pornography and that 99 percent of the net was porn-free. There are other statistics showing that 40 percent of Internet use per day is to view pornography.

The porn sector itself is reported to be a $97 billion a year business. Other facts that emerged from the data:

Average porn site user spends six minutes and 29 seconds on a porn site.

Friday and Friday evenings are the most popular day to view porn sites.

Midwest states visit porn sites more often than other areas of the country with Ohio at the top of the list.

The least popular day for visiting porn sites is Thanksgiving Day.

A possible connection a drop in porn sites have and the increase use of social network sites.

Gambling statistics the author found include that 24.7 percent of online gamblers make less than $30,000 a year and 53.5 percent had incomes of $60,000 or less per year.

The first chapter also gave valuable insights into the spammer's messages for the little blue pill. Spammers send out 12.4 billion messages per day and 8 percent of the people receiving the spam message purchased from the site sending the spam.

Prom Dresses, Diets, Lifestyle, and Celebrity Worship

Most high school proms take place in May and most retailers start advertising in March and April. Tancer found through his data analysis that the most searched phrase in January was for prom dresses. The second most searched for item was wedding dress - possibly due to the normal increase in marriage engagements that happen around the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Results also show massive increases in searches for engagement rings during the week before Thanksgiving.

It is not surprising that there is always a spike in January for searches on diets and weight loss. The same spike occurs in late spring - possibly because people want to look good for summer clothing and bathing suits. The top 20 search terms surround lifestyle and wellness.

Most of the time celebrity searches topped all other searches and it seemed to escalate with the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Anna Nicole Smith. The author provides detailed demographics for who is visiting celeb sites.

Tancer also analysis what we are afraid of and the type of phobia searches. Nine groups of fears and phobias were found including bugs, mice, snakes, and bats, heights, water, public transportation, storms, closed spaces, tunnels and bridges, crowds, and public speaking.

Some fun facts included that the number one how-to search was how-to tie a tie.

What Does It All Mean?

After providing interesting and sometimes fun facts about what we are all using the Internet to search for, Tancer uses the second half of the book to tell us why it is important to know these facts and how knowing the facts can be used in business.

The most obvious use for the data is sales and marketing. If you are selling prom dresses, you better have your information online for the January spike or you may miss the season.

Another facet for understanding the search activities is the competitive intelligence provided. Knowing what searchers are looking for and when and how they are searching can give company insights into competition.

The data can also be used in making predictions. The author used his own examples of trying to predict the outcomes of the Dancing with Stars competition. Data results can also be used to find the early adaptors of new products or services.

Tancer identifies three early adapter groups:

1. The Bohemian Mix: Comprised of 2 million households living in urban areas and have an artistic flare.
2. Money and Brains: Affluent with degrees and most likely work in legal, medical or management jobs.
3. The Young Digerati: The most affluent and the most tech-savvy of the three groups.

Why it Matters

In the end, Tancer tells us that it is important for many reasons to know the particulars of Internet users' searches. Tancer wrote, "Why is the analysis of our collective Internet behavior so important? If for no other reason, it's about understanding ourselves and how we are constantly adapting in our rapidly evolving world. Simple stated, if you want to understand the new connected world and how we choose to live in it, look no further than our Internet behavior; after all, we are what we click."

Surprisingly the statistical details are written in a way that is easy to read and follow. The author takes the time to tell the story behind the statistics.

The last part of the book could give more details on how to use the results of the data analysis. Given that the author is a data collector versus a marketer makes it easier to understand why the data itself garners more print space.

The book is a good read and can be vital to marketing departments of all types to better understand what Internet users are doing online and why.
Patricia Faulhaber is a highly published freelance writer - an avid reader and book reviewer. Contact her by writing to NewsBlaze or go to her blog at whatswritetoday.blogspot.com