keeping track of best web services

November 9, 2005 11:02 AM

Anyone know of a site that measures the popularity of a site - not just hits, or subscribers, but if a web service is growing (be it subscriber base, popularity) and if it's considered the most authoritative, etc. For example, say I'm trying to compare using Technorati versus Feedster - where would I go to compare these two sites, their features, their popularity?

There's a great side-by-side comparison of Google vs. Yahoo! product offerings on LukeW's page (http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?189) - it would be something like that, but ideally with more of a demographic aspect to it (size of user base, etc.). I don't want it to be as crass as the Hollywood Stock Exchange - just something giving me the sense of what people are using and which companies are leading in certain areas. Yes, I know I ask for a lot - if it doesn't exist, let me know. thanks!

posted by rmm to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

I hear IceRocket has the ability to do stuff like that, but haven't ever used it. Also, Alexa tracks usage stats for web sites, but their data is sometimes dubious, and doesn't necessarily answer your quesiton.
posted by stovenator at 11:19 AM on November 9, 2005

Try alexa.com.
posted by Blue Buddha at 11:22 AM on November 9, 2005

Best answer: Having looked at it, you can use the IceRocket Blog Trends Tool which allows you to create graphs on trends within the blogosphere.

Not sure if they have similar tools for webpags.
posted by stovenator at 11:24 AM on November 9, 2005

Isn't that really an apples v. oranges thing? One is a search engine, the other is a feed aggregator; it's like comparing a Rolls to a Ferrari. (Or maybe an Olds station wagon and a Mini. Or something.)

Point being, you couldn't really do it at a glance. You need to make an argument, or at least explain how you're transforming the data for presentation.
posted by lodurr at 12:33 PM on November 9, 2005

Response by poster: thanks for the links folks - I think Icerocket is kind of what I'm looking for. I used to use Alexa - I'll have to revisit them to see what's up.

And yes, lodurr, I suppose I can't really do this kind of analysis at a glance, but it sure would be handy.

thanks for the answers...
posted by rmm at 5:37 PM on November 11, 2005