Comments on: Comscore’s Fishy Facebook Numbers

By: Linkbits 07.10.07 | p2p Capital Group |

Linkbits 07.10.07 | p2p Capital Group | — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:19:21 +0000

[...] Facebook continues to grow at a rapid pace. The latest numbers show an increase in traffic of 80+% when comparing last May to this May. Read more here. [...]

By: Linkbits 07.10.07 « p2p Capital

Linkbits 07.10.07 « p2p Capital — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:36:23 +0000

[...] Facebook continues to grow at a rapid pace. The latest numbers show an increase in traffic of 80+% when comparing last May to this May. Read more here. [...]

By: ME

ME — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:54:19 +0000

how about that web measuring firms are useless?

By: Colin Smillie

Colin Smillie — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:57:15 +0000

The comScore and the whole panel approach is suspect. There has been a number of requests for outside auditing on these reporting services, the last one I can recall was from the IAB. You can see the comScore response here: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1...

By: Alec

Alec — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 07:23:59 +0000

If they're counting hits on the front page, Darren, then the data is completely worthless. It's hard to believe that they would be that stupid, or that they believe that the people using their data are that stupid.

By: Darren

Darren — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:23:20 +0000

how about its people that hit the front page and don't go any further?

By: Alec

Alec — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:39:41 +0000

Thanks for the background Rational. I’m with you in thinking that the demographic info is unreliable, especially when collected via toolbar.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:45:38 +0000

A source at comScore alluded to the missing 1.2 million visitors being ‘outside the qualifying age range’ — which I took to mean below the age of 12.

Aside from the whole concept being ridiculous (9 and 10 year olds on Facebook? why not go to Whyville or Club Penguin), I think there are some strict federal guidelines governing the Internet activity of children below the age of 13.

By: Rational Beaver

Rational Beaver — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:24:52 +0000

Great post. I kinda hoped someone would call out those numbers.

About the young ones: A. You can visit Facebook without creating an account (you can't do much, but still). B. Facebook is not lie-proof. C. Young kids may sometimes use their older siblings accounts.

About the old ones: Comscore uses a variety of means to measure internet use including surveys and some installed software (a toolbar, I believe). The age problem arises when Dad logs in to his Comscore account (a 35+ person) and then Junior (13-18) comes along and, instead of dutifully logging into his own account, he just heads straight to Facebook (or MySpace, which has also been reported to be ridiculously old).

Personally, I think this sort of demographic info is completely unreliable no matter what Comscore may claim about their methods.

By: GigaOM Fishy Math, Facebook, and comScore «

GigaOM Fishy Math, Facebook, and comScore « — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:18:29 +0000

[...] an even-snarkier view on the Facebook/comScore data, check out Alec Saunders’ post. Comscore’s numbers don’t add up. Literally! They’re reporting 26,649,000 unique [...]