Rule 1. Success Metrics are Things Robots Can’t Do.

The funny thing about metrics – the wrong one distracts more than it helps. And in this modern age, a technological hack can be built (if it doesn’t already exist) to give you the desired numbers.

Bernard Madoff
Click Fraud

This is why I’m not a big fan of measuring the success of a website based on click-through-rates or unique visitors. Both of which are distractions, and things automated scripts can be written to steadily increase the rates of.

On a much smaller scale, take a look at my “Twitter influence” according to Web Analytics Demystified.

For kicking Twitter’s tires for 2 years, I’m ok with my influence “becoming apparent” – it just betrays this report is worth exactly what I paid for it.

WebAnalyticsDemystified’s algorithm is obviously heavily weighting ‘retweets’ – the act of someone else repeating what you’ve said within Twitter. If you’ve followed along, I’ve railed against the act of retweeting that I’ve fostered an echo. I find @retweetgarrick an amusing joke. WebAnalyticsDemystified says it1 increases my influence.

Ummm.

So, to increase my ‘influence’ on Twitter, I should create an army of @retweetgarricks?

Yeah, we should probably just find a different metric.

1. Robots are neuter.