Blog Analytics

I was going to label this post "Cyber Stalking" but figured that would give off the wrong vibe and impression to all of you who think my life is interesting enough to read about it. So who am I cyber stalking? You of course. Okay not really. Okay yes really, but let me explain.

Since I created my blog, I have had two programs tracking who visits it. It doesn't tell me who you are or where you are specifically located but it is fun for me to guess. Sort of like a puzzle and I use clues like a detective to piece it all together. I thought it would be fun (or nerd like of me) to share what I have learned from all of you. By the way, I am cheap and refuse to pay for detailed information so the programs only keep track of the last thirty days.

Combined, both of the programs will tell me your OS, your browser, location, host name, and referring site. For operating systems, Mac OSX is the preferred choice but I have a few Android, iPhone, and Linux users as well. Vista is at the bottom of the PC operating systems. For some reason, I find that funny.

Firefox and Internet Explorer are the preferred browsers with over half of you choosing those to read my blog and I'm guessing you use those to surf the web too. A few of you, including me, use Chrome with some opting for Safari. I have a growing number of users who access it using their smartphone.

As for locations, the program only tells me cities where your internet provider is located. Though 98% of my readers live in the United States, I do have people in the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Spain that also read my blog. Japan used to pop up but my friend moved back to the states a few months ago.

In all honesty, I have to guess who reads my blog because ISP addresses are hard to trace. But this is where the fun (or the real nerdiness) begins. Since most of your ISP addresses pop up with Comcast, Broadweave, SBC, Qwest, Manti Tele Communications, Broadband Central, and the like, I find myself playing a game similar to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? I did have someone use Virgin Media from the UK the other day and that has sparked my curiosity. When Intel (one of only a few company names that actually pops up) is listed, I can safely guess that was my sister. Others are also pretty easy. Washington, California, Missouri, and Texas are either former roommates or family.

Utah is where it gets tricky. For the most part, I don't know. Two clues help me: your city and your referring site. For example, when Logan pops up I can guess my cousin logged on. Any city in Salt Lake or Utah County does not help me unless you have a referring site. Even my parents' town isn't easy because of extended family and friends of friends. In short, your ISP does nothing for me in figuring out who reads my blog. City and state help but only if you live outside of Utah.

What really makes the game fun is the referring sites. For all of you who bounce off my cousin Mandi's site...Congratulations! Her site is the highest referring site. I finally went and visited it (I use an RSS feed so rarely go to the actual sites) and realized her list of blogs shows when the blogger last updated her site. Since you bounce off her site, I naturally concluded her life is much more interesting than mine! :) Others of you bounce off your own blog, which makes it very easy to identify who you are, while others come from Facebook, Google Reader, or land here directly.

No matter how you get here you need to know two things. First, your identity is completely safe because 90% of the time I have no idea who you are. Second, thanks for being interested enough to share with me all the unexpected adventures in my life.