Charles on… anything that comes along

This is a bit weird. But the data is there: when people come to read stories, they click through from headlines about Google and Apple, but don’t so much for Microsoft, Intel or IBM, at least on ZDNet. Google and Apple twice as popular as Microsoft: “

‘A look at the average number of page views per title reveals that Microsoft gets about half as many page views per title as compared to Google and Apple, a strong indication of where reader interest actually resides,’ says Chris Jablonski at ZDNet.
[…]

‘While I am not at the liberty to show you those actual figures or ratios (that would surely please our competitors), a chart illustrates these findings. In the last 6 months, Google is on top with the biggest headline ‘conversion rate,’ with Apple in second and Microsoft a distant third. Intel and IBM are in the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. ’

(graph from ZDNet, courtesy - I hope - of coolz0r.com)

Try to maintain your interest now. Jablonski says:

“Google has moved in unprecedented ways leveraging its search business and delivering interesting Web-based applications to users growing increasingly comfortable with doing just about everything in a browser. (Have you seen Google’s image of the surface of the moon yet?) Similarly, Apple has dazzled the industry with its music business, its relatively quick adoption of RSS and podcasting, and head-scratching move to Intel. Microsoft makes waves too, and any announcement about Longhorn (now Vista) usually attracts readers in droves. The sentiment is different however, and appears to be adversely affecting interest.”

Basically, I think he’s saying that Google and Apple are fun, and Microsoft ain’t. Anyway, it explains why you see headlines which tout Apple’s market share rising amidst PC sales that are generally rising, when Apple is only a tiny bit of it. OR why you see loads of headlines about the iPod.

This may also say something about the problems that MSN Search will have overall, actually, in getting people to go there rather than to Goooooogle. (Unless MSN Search is the default search in Longh- in Vista. Do you think that might happen?) Online readers aren’t everyone; but they might be indicative of how people will behave once they’re reading more news online. You need a bit of cool before people think of you naturally as a destination.

But there’s also something faintly scary about simply tailoring your stories only to the things you think people will read, rather than which might matter to them. That’s when you start tweaking stories to push Google or Apple into the headline on the slightest excuse.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Those damn premium diallers, and Apple vs Real (4 August 2004; score: 42.72%)
• In this week's Independent: who started the internet's musical chairs game? (16 November 2005; score: 38.29%)
• Slashdot gets sniffy: doesn't like its RSS feed getting slashdotted (21 February 2005; score: 35.73%)