Comments on: Another Hitwise: MySpace Sends 8.2% of Traffic to Google, Implications

By: Sprinko

Sprinko — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:35:28 +0000

I think DumbFind is a Great Search Engine, Great job guys. Check out our recent web portal Sprinko.com

By: Search Engines WEB

Search Engines WEB — Sat, 13 May 2006 23:14:54 +0000

The ambiquity was somewhat clarified on the HitWise Blog. The only confusion is the Word PRIOR

EXCERPT:

I assume this means that Google is then next visited site after a myspace visit
.
.
...Hitwise measures clickstream data by the succession of URLs that users visit, so your first assumption is correct... 8.2% of visitors to myspace.com were on the Google domain prior to visiting myspace (not necessarily navigating by links). Hope that helps. - Bill

weblogs.hitwise.com/bill-tancer/2006/05/myspace_is_1_google_traffic_so.html

By: dumbfounder

dumbfounder — Sat, 13 May 2006 19:56:11 +0000

MySpace buying any old search engine won’t cut it, you are right. I don’t think it matters if they go with Google or Yahoo for their partner either though. The UI for their search results is utter crap for one, it barely looks like a search engine results page, so people won’t think of it as such. But besides that, what they need to do is learn how to leverage their audience to make a better search engine, and offer their users something unique. They need to acquire Dumbfind, we are working on that problem. http://www.dumbfind.com

By: rajiv vyas

rajiv vyas — Sat, 13 May 2006 15:43:16 +0000

Assuming these numbers are accurate, look at at this way:
Rupert Murdoch bought Myspace for $500 million. Google bough 5% stake in AOL for $1 billion.
Now, AOL accounts for about 5% of Google's search traffic. MySpace Sends 8.2% of Traffic to Google.

So, the big question is: Was Google smart by acquiring 5% in AOL or should they have bought the whole of Myspace for half that price?

By: MikeM

MikeM — Sat, 13 May 2006 05:15:48 +0000

Rupert has mentioned to the market he would announce his search engine purchase or partnership in mid-May.
He also told the market last September that he was close to taking controlling interest in a search company soon.
Those talks stalled or broke down. He still has about 400 mil. of that 2 bil. he set aside for web acquisitions.
Who does he have in mind John?

By: Gopi

Gopi — Sat, 13 May 2006 03:28:48 +0000

For the myspace demographics (16-26) google means search and i dont think myspace owning a search engine would change that behaviour.

So the best way for myspace to monetize this is just to put a google branded search box (plain old adsense for search) in its site instead of the current yahoo powered box.

This would instantly add a additional revenue of 128 million or so (80% profit share of 8% of google's US revenue of 2 billion)

By: SorenG

SorenG — Sat, 13 May 2006 03:12:43 +0000

I am still not sure anyone understands the MySpace crowd good enough to make much money from them. Just today, a 15-year old friend was giving me a tour and telling me why she liked it so much. Listening to her, I noticed how much it was communication related, not search, products, or even learning. I am not sure how much this interest in staying in constant touch with friends will continue as she gets older.

Another friend, who calls it MyWaste, is still trying to ween himself from it. But it is a crowd I think few people really understand, and they have in many ways been trained to avoid seeing or clicking ads. MySpace doing something like Ebay, however, that I could see. Or other things that build on the communication factor.

By: Jonathan Mendez

Jonathan Mendez — Sat, 13 May 2006 03:02:19 +0000

Bill Tancer of Hitwise made a very interesting observation at a recent SES. He was imagining how much more powerful MySpace could become if they added search as a core app to the site. Bares watching…

By: Neil Patel

Neil Patel — Sat, 13 May 2006 02:39:30 +0000

One of the ISPs Hitwise buys from is United Online who owns Netzero, Juno and Bluelight. United Online sells their data for around 500k.

By: Jarid

Jarid — Sat, 13 May 2006 00:32:37 +0000

Dustin,
The majority of the Hitwise data comes directly from ISPs. They also supplement this with opt-in user panel data. Here's more details from their site:
http://www.hitwise.com/products-services/how-we-do-it.php

I can't speak directly to the accuracy, but a LOT of companies (and investors) use their service for important business decisions, so I don't think their credibility is an issue.