Why Netvibes Unique Users are decreasing since the Ginger release ?

Why the Netvibes' number of Unique Visitors, as measured by Compete.com, has decreased since January 2008 ? Netvibes remains by far the best of the independent homepages with more than 4 times users than its competitors pageflakes.com and protopage.com . But the new Ginger release update has not produced any increase in users numbers.

That is strange as Ginger, the "social twist" version of Netvibes, opened to all Netvibes users beginning of March, and I would have expected that this could increase the users' base not the contrary : a huge loss of 22% in just a month !

For sure the problems related to the implementation of the new Ginger have caused some flection in the numbers but ... let's check figures with an other "troubled" service as Twitter and a new star as Friendfeed.


Twitter is not stopping its tendency to increase users' base (+30%) and remember that only Twitter web users are counted here (no mobiles or other web applications). Just FriendFeed had also a little drop for April figures.

Of course, Compete.com stats are based on US users, so Netvibes that has an international base is not fully represented by those figures. For that reason, I checked also the numbers for Wikio.com (the US version of Wikio, the European based blogs and news feed aggregator).

And you can see, that Wikio is still far from Netvibes numbers but its trend is always positive.

But, although unique visitors and page views are critical pieces of the puzzle - these metrics often fail to accurately measure engagement on sites using technologies such as AJAX (as Netvibes) and online video.

(comments from Compete.com :

Attention is a powerful way to plan and measure the web because it is a finite resource that we manage selfishly. We grant our attention to people, activities and websites that merit receiving our most precious resource - time. If a site can garner more of an individual's time it should generally be considered a good thing. With that said, there are exceptions (Search Engines for example), which is why we don't present Attention as the king of all metrics. We see Attention as an additional piece of the puzzle.

Attention is graphed using a stacked area chart, which shows how the Attention for each individual site contributes to the total Attention for all sites in the chart. Note that the area for each individual site uses the site below it as a baseline - thus the order of the sites will affect the appearance of the graph. )

So here is the Graph of Attention for Netvibes:

Even on Attention, there is a decrease for Netvibes on the contrary of Twitter.

For sure, Netvibes has not become a viral social application.

So, what Netvibes shall do next ? I think that we need to wait for the May stats before making any judgement.

If you have ideas or insight on the subject do not hesitate to let me know...

Twitter is down and no reason is given: Bad User Service

Twitter, another Web 2.0 star service, is down now for some hours.

No reason is given, just a laconic: Something is technically wrong.

In the Web 2.0 era: that is no more acceptable :( even for a cost free service .


Strangely enough I can send and read messages with my Netvibes Twitter widget.


UPDATE: Twitter seems working again ... but no news on the causes of the interruption

I added the my own (NetEx) Twitter Updates Widget to my Netvibes Experience Blog

As Twitter is becoming "ZE Instant Messaging" service of the WEB 2.0 I just added here on ther right column a Twitter Updates Widget that will present my last 3 Tweets.

Tweets (Twitter's posts) are shorter (max 140 signs) than blog post but they are much easier to post. Urls are tranformed in short url by the system and you can not publish any image.
You can send Tweets via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific , Facebook or Netvibes.

For me as a blogger is also a way to get in touch with my readers and my preferred sources ;)


1) If you want to follow my Tweets (NetEx) on your Twitter, click here:

http://twitter.com/Netviber

2) If you want to follow my Twitter (NetEx) Updates on your Netvibes page click here:



3) If you want to add your own Twitter feeds in your Netvibes page, click here:




Twitter on Wikipedia

Netvibes' Help Line on Twitter: netvibes_help

By checking the new Summize widget by Netvibes (4*/5), I found a new Twitter user:
netvibes_help. At first I thought it was a joke (I like jokes ;) ) but n ow it turns out it is a real Netvibes Help service.

It answers in English and French ;

So, just in case you need it one day, here is the Netvibes Help Line on Twitter: http://twitter.com/netvibes_help

If you want to follow also my own Twitter here is it too: http://twitter.com/Netviber

New Netvibes' Summize widget to search all Twitter posts: NetEx rating=4*/5

I was testing a new "real time" search service, called SUMMIZE, that searches all public posts of TWITTER the cool and trendy Instant Messaging that you can use with your mobile or the web.

Now, Netvibes has just published a clean Summize Widget with the search already setted on "netvibes" ;) Of course, you can put what you want: your name, your city, your country, ...

You do not need to have registred with Twitter unless you want to write something yourself.

You can not leave the search blanck (and hope to follow Twitter on line) as the widget will reinstall "netvibes".

It is nice that with this Netvibes Summize widget you can star and comment in your Netvibes a Twitter message of someone you are not following with Twitter.

There is also an option by which you can select a user and get all the posts he made with that search string.


NetEx Rating: 4*/5

For this new, clean and simple Netvibes' Widget that let's you follow on Twitter the subject that you are interested in. (Would love to have a count message read and the possibility to change the title to include the search string ;) )

Install this widget by clicking here :
and It will be added in my REAL ESSENTIAL WIDGETS (and extensions) Tab on my Universe.

What kind of animal is Netvibes today ? A PLATYPUS !

A PLATYPUS ??!!

YES, A PLATYPUS !

Platypus ( (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a small , nice, unique semi-aquatic , duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, egg-laying, venomous mammal with dense brown fur living in Australia .

If you look back , NETVIBES was an Homepage or a Start Page : It was the your new Private page: a new entry point for the Web to read your preferred feeds, check the weather, your emails .... The competition is from: iGoolge, MyYahoo!, Live.com, Pageflakes,...

Slowly, the new socials networks appeared and with the Ginger release, a new Netvibes was presented. Now, you can have now your own Public Page on Netvibes: Netvibes has become a Social Service on its own but in competition with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Bebo ...

Now, as evolution continues also in the web, Widgets (those small programmes that you can add to your page) are becoming the big thing... They can travel, they can be today in Netvibes but tomorrow (even today if you want) you will bring them in your own Blog or in your web site.

At this point Netvibes have to evolve again...

So Netvibes wants to become also a Widget Market place in competition with: Widgetbox, Slide, Rockyou, Goowy, Clearspring, Gigya, ...

Other evolutions are awaited: Online Web Storage could be the next one...

So, Netvibes = Platypus , not a strange definition for me ...

Why Netvibes' Team's members prefer Twitter ?

It is some time that I "follow" Netvibes and slowly I happen to be in contact with some of the small Team that runs and builds Netvibes.

What I found surprising is that the majority of the Netvibes Team uses Twitter to chat between them when Netvibes with its Ginger release is now offering a similar service.

Why they continue to do so ?

1. Twitter must be more friendly, easy, adapted to their use or it must give at least the same.
   
2. Their Twitter friends are more numerous than their Netvibes one (that meaning that they were not able "to convert" they friends to Netvibes
3. Old habits are stronger to change even for tech guys and girls
4. The service offered by Netvibes "My community" is not appealing enough
5. They do that just for me to ask ;)

In the mean time you can follow my own Twitter here.

Hi,

While we wait for The Big Update why not give a look at the WEB TREND MAP for 2008 ?

Netvibes is on the Innovation Line near Twitter, Slashdot and Wired... and at 2 stops from ... GOOGLE ! check it on the PDF .

Use your Update Status as a internal Netvibes Twitter.

Hi,

I am testing Ginger and using the Update Status fonction as Netvibes internal Twitter, an instant messaging service.

To do that you click on your Profile and you have an Update your Status function.

First erase the text you wrote before with RESET (this function has been added a few days ago, Thanks netvibes ;), then type a short message max 150. Click Ok. And it is done!

All your friends looking at "FRIENDS ACTIVITY" will read your message!

Yourself you can read it to but on :"MY PUBLIC ACTIVITY".

Tell me what you think about it.
The big advantage is that you do not have to register to Twitter on the other hand you communicate only with your Netvibes Friends but that is Ok, no ?

Now, this service should become a little bit more friendly, perhaps the Window used for showing the Activities sould have an option for showing more vertical space.

And why not to have the possibility to add a small picture?

That Update Status should also get a new Name like: ... Vibes
and then become the Internal Instant Message service that also Ouriel Ohayon from French Techcrunch is waiting for Netvibes.

My improvements list n°1 for next Ginger Upgrade

Hi,

as I am testing the new Ginger release from Netvibes I have a short list of requests for Improvements ;):
SUBJECT: Send this Widget/tab

All the widgets and tabs that you have in your page can be sent to someone.

A) You can send widgets:

1. to "my Universe" from "my private page" and viceversa (the widgets goes on the first tab on the left)
   
2. You can send them to friends (by email ) where you can Personalize the Message . You can also use an instant messaging service.
   
3. You can share them on your blog (or any other HTML page) (with "Copy the following HTML" code into your blog that will create a +netvibes button that will be used by your visitors to add the widgets in their own Netvibes page)
4. A forth possibility is in the pipeline ? it should be the * Add to my picks.

But not all the widgts can be sent with first 3 solutions

The TWITTER WIDGET (from add :content/essential widgets) can only be sent to a friend ( by email) or shared on my blog (by html) but not My Universe ! When the Widget is in the My Universe, I have the option send it to my private page! Why ?


B) When you send widgets, usually you are asked if you prefer to send them "preconfigured". That is interesting to send a Search (web, blog, images,...) or a webnote.
But not all widgets offer that possibility.

The IMAGE WIDGET (from: add content/essential widgets) can only be sent by Email or Instant Messaging but it does not come with the image you inserted...

C) I am not able to send an entire TAB preconfigurated to a friend by email.The possibility exists but is not working for me...

Well, for a Private beta is still a very good release and I am sure the Netvibes team must recover from the huge work of the last upgrading ;)