Updates to Omniture on LiveJournal

[theljstaff]

We’re making a change to the way we've been gathering statistics on LiveJournal and wanted to let you know the plan and details in advance.

Back in January, we announced that we'd start using Omniture SiteCatalyst as the system that lets us dig deeper into how members and visitors use LiveJournal. Back then, we had only used Omniture's tracking

Comments

[twocorpses]

While I'm grateful for the instructions on how to opt-out, the whole venture seems very creepy.

[girlfight]

You are aware that almost every site collects this type of data, except often far more invasively and with no opt-out, right?

[twocorpses]

Well, how do sites know, based on a cookie, what parts of the site are confusing to its users?

Sites collect demographic information and that's not something I have a problem with. But how is this information going to tell LJ/6A about what parts of the sites people are finding confusing? Are they going to look at the path of links people follow? That's not always a good way to do it because people may do things in a specific way.

Are you going to comment to every comment that expresses concern about this with your comment?

[stylishbastard]

Well if it takes people 30 clicks to get to a part of the site, I dare say they will attempt to streamline that.

[twocorpses]

But, and I'm playing devil's advocate here, there are some things people do in a specific way for whatever reason. And if it takes them 30 clicks and they're happy with that why change it? If people are saying "I can't find such and such part on the site, how do I get to it" okay, make it easier to find, but just because someone clicks around? Beh.

(For an example, look at the MyLJ which I think has been got rid of [yay poor grammar] - it was supposed to streamline accessing lots of things and so many people complained about it. Or the new homepage when you're logged in. They could look at my clicks and think I'm confused because I never use the homepage to go to different pages.)

[stylishbastard]

They won't change anything based on your behaviours. Or any individual users. However, if 500,000 people all have trouble accessing a feature, then that would suggest something to change or consult on.

[twocorpses]

That's true, and I realized that as I was typing out my comment but decided to run with it.

I think whoever said about the suspicious nature of the users is spot on. A lot of people don't trust LJ and this will seem like another way to cause problems.

Although I do agree with a comment on the second page that data mining should be done with full consent. I know a lot of sites don't follow that and I don't like it but other than not going to those sites there's not a lot I can do. :\

[stylishbastard]

This isn't remotely comparable to data mining. They are not getting your credit card details, personal information or anything from this. Seriously...if you'll happily use a site like Amazon then this is absolutely not an issue at all.

[twocorpses]

Ah, I seem to have missed some information in the post. Re-reading I see that you're right. However I do know that they updated it with the friends-only/private entries thing.

Enh.

[soleta_nf]

I think the post is hard to understand for someone who isn't 100% tech savvy, which is most of LJ's userbase, including me. I was very concerned on reading the post, but before commenting (and getting too paranois) I read the comments and thankfully someone there clarified that this is a regular, non-alarming thing that most sites do and it's nice that LJ let us know about it. So now I feel better. But the post could have contextualized what they were doing and use less technical speak. That would have calmed a lot of us down from the get-go.

[soleta_nf]

*paranoid, even

[twocorpses]

I totally agree with you. There's someone saying that people who are concerned about privacy should edjumacate themselves but you know what? Not everyone has the time to do so. So break it down for the lowest common denominator and you'll have a lot less dissent.

And a lot less of people saying "YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS IF YOU'RE USING THE INTARTUBES!!!11" WTFever, if it's not something that has ever been brought up to someone, why should they?

[soleta_nf]

I completely agree. "You should know this if you use the internet" is a great self-defense mechanism for people who are immersed in the technical world, and the language in the post is second-nature to them, and they don't understand how someone can NOT know most tech lingo. But, reality check - most people on LJ aren't tech specialists, and LJ/6A would save themselves a lot of headaches if only they would remember that. Public relations rule #1: Know your audience.

[twocorpses]

Know your audience.
They do know their audience - the advertisers.

*snerk*

[soleta_nf]

Touché.

[rolinator]

Yeah. Subtle visual clues are hard to spot, viz "We will not collect private information."

Could slip past all but the most eagle-eyed technocrat, for sure.