<![CDATA[Valleywag: Stats]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/valleywag.com.png <![CDATA[Valleywag: Stats]]> http://valleywag.com/tag/stats http://valleywag.com/tag/stats <![CDATA[ Sick of blogging? Data says you can quit now ]]> Valley marketer Louis Gray and Outside the Beltway editor James Joyner agree: Blog links account for less and less of the traffic to their sites, falling an order of magnitude behind search engines. "Search engines, social media sites, and aggregators delivered much more traffic than links from very popular blogs such as Scobleizer, TechCrunch, and Micro Persuasion," Joyner summarizes from Gray's data. His theory? The geeks who read blogs all day in 2003 are now following Twitter and other speedier media.

]]> Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5023077&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Online video views drop in April ]]> U.S. Internet viewers watched 11.5 billion videos in March and then only 11 billion in April, according to comScore. Not surprising. How many times can you watch Gene Simmons doing it in a T-shirt? [NewTeeVee]

]]> Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:40:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5017236&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Google's prize: cheap Yahoo users who spend little online ]]> New data from Hitwise plots the demographics who visit Yahoo Search against Google users. Groups in the top left are a particular strength for Yahoo; groups on the bottom right, for Google. Among America's "blue-collar backbone" and "struggling societies," Yahoo does particularly well. Google, on the other hand owns "affluent suburbia." The bubble sizes indicate those groups' propensity to spend over $500 online over a four-week period — the real prize for online advertisers. What does the chart tell us?

That Google may just have landed more search traffic — but that those queries are made by searchers who spend less money online and aren't worth as much to advertisers. You know, people who set their browser homepages back in 1997 and consider Google newfangled — the ever-diminishing crew of hardcore Yahoo searchers.

]]> Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5016296&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ ABC tops online, with CBS a comer ]]> ABC has the most popular television network website, just a shade more popular than NBC.com among the six broadcasters sampled by HitWise. But both websites are down in their relative share of the online audience, while CBS has greatly increased visits. Why? Well, for starters, CBS is ahead in the year-to-date ratings race for actual television. The top draws to the network sites are, once again, competitions and other game shows — American Idol was the top draw for Fox, Deal or No Deal for NBC and Dancing With the Stars for ABC. Almost every site, however, kept users on longer, with the average user spending three more minutes on CBS. Only visits to NBC got shorter, probably because some users are going to Hulu to watch full episodes of shows like The Office and 30 Rock

]]> Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:40:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5012700&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Why online ads are getting ever cheaper ]]> Prices in the online advertising's world bargain bin are cratering. PubMatic, a consultancy which helps website owners shop for the highest-paying ads, says that average rates for its largest publishers have dropped from $0.38 per thousand pageviews to $0.18. Some fret that this is the sign of an economic slowdown. I doubt it. More likely, it's a reflection of the glut of inventory available, and the failure of an ad-selling business model. Google has excelled at selling ads by computer, matching the most profitable ad to the right webpage. But Google takes a hefty cut of sales, and few others have matched its success at targeting ads.

The business of brokering ads is failing advertisers and publishers. Advertisers don't want to spray their ads across the Web; they want to target them to the right audiences. Publishers, meanwhile, would like to see their products earning uninsulting rates. But what is sold cheaply is valued little.

The ad networks which automate the sale and placement of ads have mostly managed to cut prices. Meanwhile, publishers with ever-expanding website audiences are increasingly desperate to get something, anything for their pages, setting off a deflationary spiral. What we have here is not a sign of recession but the functioning of the law of supply and demand. Targeting, the supposed holy grail that will save automated online-ad sales, has so far shown only a modest improvement in returns.

For PubMatic, publishing these numbers may prove a mistake. They don't show the benefit of shopping around for the best rate; they show that handing over one's advertising inventory to a third-party broker is invariably a mistake. For salespeople who sell online ads the old-fashioned way, on the other hand, PubMatic's numbers are the closest thing to a full-employment act I've seen.

]]> Tue, 13 May 2008 13:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=390104&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Who needs users when you have PR? ]]> A Forbes article estimates the number of Twitter users at 80,000. The story does not note the number of news articles mentioning Twitter in Google's database: 10,800. [Forbes]

]]> Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:40:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=384968&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Slow-motion newspaper-industry death continues ]]> Newspaper readership, long resilient, is now clearly dropping. Paid circulation from September 2007 to March 2008 dropped 3.6 percent from the similar period a year ago; Sunday circulation dropped 4.6 percent. [Reuters]

]]> Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:20:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=384918&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ America officially so 2007, according to Chinese Internet-user figures ]]> There are now more Internet users in China than in the U.S., according to the China Internet Network Information Center. The current count: 221 million. As of December, the U.S. had 215 million users. The upshot: When the Web 2.0 bubble pops, expect a rush of signups for Mandarin courses at City College of San Francisco. [Reuters]

]]> Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:20:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=383651&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Are VCs fleeing the Web? Yes and no ]]> Most venture capitalists are adept followers of the herd. As such, their investments are best seen as trailing indicators — the financial detritus of events past, rather than predictors of what to come. Is there a bubble in Web startups? The numbers themselves are as confused as investors. Dow Jones says the first quarter saw a record $1.58 billion in venture capital invested in Internet companies. Thomson Reuters says its figure of $1.3 billion was down 7 percent from the fourth quarter. Data about VC investments is hard to obtain, and the two categorize companies differently. Anecdotally, it's clear that smart VCs have stopped funding every new social-media website and online-ad network that cross their desks. But the Valley remains awash in dumb money that has yet to be called home. The popping of this bubble will take more than a quarter's time.

]]> Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:40:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=382338&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ 2,000 Microsoft fans convince Steve Ballmer no one uses Yahoo search ]]> BallmerCackles.jpgSpeaking to a crowd of nearly 2,000 at a technology conference in Seattle yesterday, Steve Ballmer asked how many in the audience used Yahoo search. "Only a handful of hands went up," reports Reuters. Fewer, in fact than went up when he asked who used Microsoft Live. Taken aback, Ballmer responded: "Wow! We offered 31 bucks a share." In March, 59.8 percent of all U.S. searches went through Google, 21.3 percent through Yahoo, and 9.4 percent through Microsoft, according to ComScore.

]]> Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:00:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=381608&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ ComScore plays Google whipping boy, but Web statistics firm actually saved search giant's bacon ]]> WhippingBoy.jpgIn February, ComScore reported underwhelming growth in clicks on Google ads in the U.S. Google shares sank below a 52-week low for the first time in the company's history. Then, yesterday, Google reported 42 percent year-over-year revenue growth, surpassing expectations. Burned, Wall Street traders reacted harshly toward ComScore, dropping the company's shares by 8.4 percent after hours. Today, ComScore wants to remind the world that it never said Google's revenues would sink and that it only measures clicks on Google ads in the U.S., not internationally But really, Google investors owe ComScore a large debt.

WIthout making its numbers so readily available for analysts such as Citi's Mark Mahaney to misinterpret, expectations for Google's first-quarter revenues never would have sank to numbers the search giant so easily reached. All it took for Google to blow past them was a smidgen of international growth coupled with a plunging dollar.

]]> Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:40:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=381522&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Alexa introduces slightly less inaccurate website rankings ]]> AlexaAlexa, the Internet-traffic measurement site owned by Amazon.com, has revamped its famously inaccurate rankings. Its argument for why website visitors and publishers should trust it now? Because it says so — a claim likely as trustworthy as its old rankings. [Alexa.com]

]]> Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=380994&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Lies, damn lies, and RSS subscriber figures ]]> Google prides itself on running its business by the numbers. But its FeedBurner unit, which tracks subscribers to RSS feeds, has laughably inaccurate numbers, writes venture capitalist and blogger Brad Feld. One out of six of his 117,000 RSS subscribers come from automated signups, he believes; those users rarely if ever read his blog. [Feld Thoughts]

]]> Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:00:00 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=380244&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Brooke Hammerling, online-video PR rep, weighs in on online-video audience debate ]]> brooke_hammerling.jpgBrewPR's snacky flack Brooke Hammerling penned a guest column for Silicon Alley Insider, arguing that the Web video industry needs to come up with a strict viewership metric. Though she doesn't mention it in the piece, New York-based online-video startup NextNewNetworks is a Brew client. (It's disclosed, in tiny type, at the end.) We could ask why Henry Blodget is giving a self-interested company rep a soapbox, or why they couldn't fix the red eye in Hammerling's photo. But the real question is why Hammerling suddenly cares about online video analytics.

Could it possibly be because she's not happy with the numbers that ComScore is reporting for her client — or, worse, the numbers NextNewNetworks is asking her to pitch? I'd like to point out the Association for Downloadable Media is giving a presentation on video advertising standards tomorrow at Ad:tech. Maybe Hammerling should give them her support instead of taking passive-aggressive stabs at companies working in the space. That seems easier.

]]> Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:00:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=380192&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ YouTube's U.S. video share now bigger than Google's search share, but profit eludes it ]]> The latest data from Hitwise shows YouTube claiming over 73 percent of the online video market in the United States — a larger share in its home market than even its parent compan, Google, enjoys in search. That figure is up 18 percentage points over March of last year, when YouTube had 55 percent of the market. Problem is, these numbers represent significant growth in viewership, but not growth in advertising sales or revenue, leaving Google on the hook for ever-expanding bandwidth costs.

]]> Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:20:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=379605&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Michael Arrington, Pete Cashmore puff up egos, traffic ]]> Michael ArringtonAt last night's PopSugar-TechCrunch party, I hadn't hoped to become part of the story, but LA Times reporter David Sarno suggested Arrington's 86ing of my date inspired Mashable's Pete Cashmore to invent a story about his own ouster. I don't know whether there's anything to Sarno's theory. But I do know this: Cashmore and Arrington are full of it if they think either of their operations are "top 10 blogs." (Photo by Robert Scoble)

]]> Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:40:00 PDT Jackson West http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378893&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The Internet has elected Obama president ]]> MP-FacetimeGraphic1.1.gifIn the real world, politics are complicated. On the Web, things seem reassuringly simple, though. Take the Democratic campaign: Polls show Barack Obama ahead, but he doesn't have the necessary delegates to force Hillary Clinton to drop out. Web-traffic analyst Matt Pace of Compete.com believes he has the internet traffic stats to prove that Obama is a shoo-in.

MP-FacetimeMar1.1.gifPace's evidence:


  • number of readers on their Wikipedia pages (Obama 4:1 over Hillary)

  • website visitors (Obama by 2:1)

  • share of Web visitors in Pennsylvania, where the next big primary is being held (Obama by 2:1)

  • hours spent on each candidates YouTube channel (Obama by 10:1)


Based on those numbers, Matt gives the race in favor of Obama:
Given the trends noted above, Obama's increasing momentum, and his dominance across almost every measurable statistic, he could pull out a victory next week in Pennsylvania. This of course would be a disaster for Clinton who has pinned all hope on getting a late boost from the final primaries in order to persuade the party's Super Delegates to hand her the nomination.
Which is precious, and specious. All it proves is what polls already tell us: The wealthy liberals who support Obama are more likely to be online and use sites like Wikipedia and YouTube than Clinton's working-class base. (And searches for Obama on an online encyclopedia could simply indicate curiosity about a political unknown; Clinton, one would think, requires no introductions.)

Had Pace run the numbers last summer, he'd likely have told us that Ron Paul was set to win the presidency. And let's not forget what happened to the last presidential candidate who had a revolutionary Internet presence, raised millions online and inspired lots of young people to get out and vote. His name was Howard Dean, and his campaign ended with a scream.

]]> Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:40:00 PDT Jordan Golson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378795&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ The fall of Drudge is greatly exaggerated ]]> drudgestats.pngIs the Drudge Report shrinking? One blog thinks so, and cites Alexa data — by far the most inaccurate of the website-measurement sites — to prove it. Is Drudge shrinking? No, but it also isn't growing as fast as some other sites, including the 3-year old Huffington Post. HuffPo has certainly grown its readership, recently passing 3 million unique visitors per month. But where it really matters — total visits and daily uniques, the number of people who come back every day — Drudge continues to dominate. All the more impressive, since Drudge maintains a tiny two-person staff, while HuffPo's fills a SoHo office. The sites compared by (more accurate) numbers:

drudgehuffpo1.png
livegraph.png
drudgehuffpo2.png

]]> Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:20:00 PDT Jordan Golson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=378423&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ What's good for Amazon.com is good for the country ]]> Recession or no, online retail sales are expected to increase 17 percent to reach a record $204 billion in 2008, making up 7 percent of all retail. [WSJ]

]]> Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:10:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=377312&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are BLOGGING ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Yang responds: Dear Steve, raise your offer and we'll talk (22 comments), Is Jakob Lodwick the moneyman behind Muxtape? (20) and Mahalo employee can afford a binary-tagged Audi A6 (20).

]]> Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5005185&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are JOSEF ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Jason Calacanis begs rival conference producer to switch sides (20 comments), Saudi Arabian man catches daughter on Facebook, murders her (12) and Intuit gets a logo update, sticks with $328 million in auction-rate securities it can't sell (12).

]]> Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5005027&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Where to find our stats ]]> Shouldn't you people be working?Valleywag publisher Nick Denton likes to boast that our traffic statistics are published for anyone to peruse. As a former user interface developer, I'm painfully aware that we've made it impossible to find them. Here are the hot links to two of our three separate site statistics feeds. Thank God the numbers don't add up, or I'd really doubt them.

  • Our Sitemeter link hides in plain sight at the very lower left corner of the front door.
  • Our internal stats counters report daily and monthly pageviews by author. There are three Paul Boutins listed. This explains my schedule.
  • We also run Google Analytics, but I'm too chicken to publish our password. There's always That One Guy Who Ruins Everything. If you know a way to autopublish a read-only GA chart, please fill me in.
]]> Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT Paul Boutin http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=375395&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are CONFIRMED (2,401 ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Red Herring video team quits en masse (15 comments), Craigslist crackdown backfires (11) and Craigslist helps local police nab suspects tied to fake "Free Stuff" ad (8).

]]> Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004958&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are GAWKER ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

It's April 1 and I don't know what my salary is (48 comments), Gullible journalists agree to prank their readers (16) and Fired TokBox CEO didn't need to know HTML to drive his $80,000 BMW (15).

]]> Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004907&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are ONLINE ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Startup will pay to hear from Facebook ex-COO, investor (15 comments), 4 reasons why DoubleClickers should ditch Google (11) and Rerank the geeks on the 100 Unsexiest Men list (10).

]]> Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004840&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Calacanis reveals journalist roots with extra-clever math ]]> Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur now, but back in the 1990s, he ran a publication called Silicon Alley Reporter. And sometimes, his journalist roots show. Like during this recent interview with The Deal when Calacanis explained who uses Mahalo. Seems 80 percent come from one place and 80 percent from another. Watch for when reporter Mary Kathleen Flynn nods in a big way, as if to say, "Makes perfect sense to me."

When people come to the site, I think its it's probably 80 percent the use case of Wikipedia and 80 percent the use case of a traditional search engine like Yahoo or Google.
Below, Calacanis explains the perfect sense of his figuring. Those prone to motion sickness should proceed with caution.

]]> Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:20:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=374230&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are ART (1,907 ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Calacanis interview technique: "I try to scare people" (16 comments), Electric-car vote turns even noted Republicans pro-regulation (14) and Ad network CEO: hiring greedy ex-Yahoos costs too much (12).

]]> Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004691&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are GREAT ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

White Google executive fibs to Congress about black employee count (36 comments), A dot-com dominatrix gives reasons to pay attention during HR training (12) and Can't you tell how clever John Mayer is from his bug report to Apple? (11).

]]> Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004615&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Google tests video ads against search results ]]> VideoThumb.jpgLast summer, metrics firm IQ Report said that after watching a Web video ad, as many as 45 percent of viewers enacted some sort of measurable response. A full 31 percent actually later went to the advertised company's website. Maybe that's why Google is testing placing video ads on its search results. Full screenshot of what the video ads will look like, below.

GoogleVideoResults.png

]]> Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:20:00 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=372333&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Drudge and Kos readers are addicted ]]> nielsen.pngThere are many, many ways to count Web audiences. Pageviews and time spent are the two most commonly watched metrics, and they’re reasonably easy to understand. Now Nielsen says it wants to use “sessions per person per month” to tally up visitors to popular news sites. Matt Drudge got ahold of the latest rankings and linked them prominently on his Drudge Report — no surprise, since he dominates the rankings. Nielsen puts Drudge Report at 19.9 sessions per person in February — roughly once per weekday. Liberal community news site DailyKos comes up second with 8.9 sessions per person. Get the rest of the list after the jump.

Top 30 Online Current Events & Global News Destinations, ranked by Sessions per Person
Brand or channel; sessions per person; unique audience (000)
1. drudgereport.com; 19.9; 3,445
2. Daily Kos^; 8.9; 1,204
3. Fox News Digital Network; 8.3; 10,177
4. CNN Digital Network; 7.9; 37,181
5. AOL News; 7.7; 21,119
6. Yahoo! News; 7.4; 35,274
7. MSNBC Digital Network; 6.4; 34,013
8. ksl.com^; 6.0; 796
9. Breitbart.com; 5.3; 2,674
10. Google News; 5.3; 12,050
11. Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Division; 5.1; 13,998
12. NYTimes.com; 4.9; 18,975
13. Netscape; 4.8; 2,709
14. Townhall.com; 4.7; 1,152
15. Media General Newspapers; 4.6; 1,761
16. GTGI Network 4.5; 1,345
17. Star Tribune; 4.3; 2,108
18. TWC News Websites; 4.1; 840
19. NewsMax.com; 4.0; 4,054
20. Zwire^; 3.9; 1,089
21. Cox Newspapers; 3.9; 5,197
22. washingtonpost.com; 3.8; 10,441
23. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 3.8; 1,259
24. The Buffalo News^; 3.7; 502
25. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; 3.6; 1,472
26. MediaNews Group Newspapers; 3.5; 5,850
27. USATODAY.com; 3.5; 10,571
28. WorldNow 3.5; 10,588
29. IB Websites; 3.4; 7,565
30. St. Louis Post Dispatch^; 3.4; 1,022

^ Indicates Home and Work audience duplication projections did not meet minimum sample size standards. Combined home and work audience estimates for these sites may exhibit increased variability month-to-month as a result.

This data, also from Nielsen Online, shows the monthly traffic and other data for newspaper-based Web sites for February 2008:

66,456,096 - monthly unique audience for newspaper sites, an increase of 13.2 percent (year over year)
41 percent - active reach, an increase of 9.4 percent (year over year)
3,064,613,644 - total page views on newspaper sites, an increase of 8.5 percent (year over year)
46.05 - page views per person
]]> Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:00:00 PDT Jordan Golson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=372112&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are YOUR ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Julia Allison earnestly explains the rise of the celebritard (40 comments), Facebook security lapse exposes Mark Zuckerberg's private Facebook photos (27) and Jason Calacanis doesn't really hate your family, but he does think you should look for work at the post office (12).

]]> Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004546&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are YOU'RE ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Allison, Asha and Rambin dump the Web, embrace TV (30 comments), What kind of $80,000 car did your Firefox bug fix buy? (14) and Sticks and stones may break VCs' bones, but words just bring out lawyers (12).

]]> Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004498&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Right call, wrong call girl ]]> At last, online data shows at least one reader has attempted to take my advice. He made contact with the original "high-dollar hottie," Anne Marie. But she explains his one big goof.

Anna Marie writes:

Today I received an email from a gentlemen who addressed me as "Lara" asking me about my availability next month. For those of you who don't know I retired yeeeaars ago! I took the time to kindly write him back and say I'm not Lara, I'm retired and have a great day. He wrote back with a link to this article...

Anne Marie and Jet Set Lara were both featured in my post. My reader confused Anna Marie, who's no longer for hire, with Lara, whom you still can contact for a date. Glad to hear a connection's been made. Maybe read Valleywag with both hands next time?

]]> Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:00:09 PDT Melissa Gira Grant http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371182&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are NSFW (1,984 ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Manhunting no more, Allison, Asha and Rambin plan Sand Hill Road tour (37 comments), Happy birthday, iJustine! (13) and Valleywag brought down by outage — editor blames sci-fi fans (11).

]]> Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:03:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004218&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are ONLINE ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Crowdsourcing experiment seeks to dictate Leah Culver's love life (16 comments), Girls Gone Wild tests online video's mass appeal with Ashley Dupre (13) and "It was that or the trifecta, and I was feeling adventurous" (12).

]]> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004064&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ We still haven't found what we're looking for, and now some of us have stopped trying ]]> Google still dominates search, gaining seven-tenths of a percentage point in U.S. market share. But this is far more worrisome: Search queries are down 6 percent across the board. [ComScore]

]]> Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:30:33 PDT Owen Thomas http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=369951&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are BARACK ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Is Kevin Rose still Julia Allison's "buttercup"? (17 comments), Chocolate on the outside (17) and Is Meebo worth more than Bear Stearns? (15).

]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:00:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5004013&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ ComScore reports MySpace hit 109.3 million ... ]]> ComScore reports MySpace hit 109.3 million worldwide unique visitors in January. Facebook had 100.7 million, only 8 percent less. Last year, MySpace's lead was four times as large. [SAI]

]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:28:20 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=369412&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Yahoo Buzz traffic shows why leaks are good for business ]]> After Valleywag published leaked screenshots of Yahoo Buzz last month, Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan sent a companywide email saying that the person who leaked Buzz "had been found and dealt with." In light of the Hitwise traffic statistics charted above, let's hope that "dealing with" our tipster meant Callahan personally fetched him or her an extra latte from Beantrees.

]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:20:21 PDT Nicholas Carlson http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=369204&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[ Today's most popular stories are RUMORMONGER (2,838 ... ]]> Today's most popular stories are
Today's most discussed stories are

Natali Del Conte even hotter when she speaks Spanish (22 comments), Did Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia boss make out in Amsterdam? (18) and A new specter is haunting Valleywag (13).

]]> Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:01:00 PDT http://valleywag.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5003963&view=rss&microfeed=true