Via.

1. Facebook Now Accounts For 1 In 4 Internet Pageviews(?)

Database marketing firm Drake Direct claims that Facebook represents 1 in 4 pageviews in the US. By comparison, Google gets 1 in 12 pageviews using the same dataset.

The data sounds questionable, but it made me think. These days, I probably visit Facebook at least as much as Google. I wonder how that traffic breaks down in terms of Facebook applications vs. socializing? How much of those numbers are games, for instance?

Read More...

1. Measuring the quality of visitors rather than the quantity

Marketing blogger Helge Tennø raises an interesting question: in the age of social media, what are we missing from our current web analytics?

It is easy to measure page views and sales, but that still leaves a lot of room in between. How do we track the number and activity of different user types that make online communities work? There's no good answer yet, but it's something to chew on.

Read More...

Optical illusions aren't just tricks. They're tricks that people's brains like, so they tend to make an impression on viewers.

((They're also hard to make, so I appreciate seeing a decent one.))

Via.

A while back, we pitched an idea for a logo that was an optical illusion—the kind that looks like one thing or another depending on how you look at it. Things didn’t pan out, but due to our rigorous research for the project, we’ve developed quite a collection of good optical illusions.

I find such images appealing; lots of people do. I think the brain likes to be teased a bit. It’s fun.

For today’s post, I’m going to share some images of designs that make use of perspective-based illusions. These are interesting because they are spatial: a viewer stands in a particular spot and visual cues are exploited to form a 2D image.

Read More...