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| | The May Report: 1/25/2010: A major brouhaha developing over comScore's marketing practices brought on by $10K fees, better data for big cos. that pay and one blogger, Jason Calacanis; The Total Attorneys rumor is true; An overlooked Chicago tech firm, Rubicon Technology
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| | January 25, 2010
The May Report: 1/25/2010: A major brouhaha developing over comScore's marketing practices brought on by $10K fees, better data for big cos. that pay and one blogger, Jason Calacanis; The Total Attorneys rumor is true; An overlooked Chicago tech firm, Rubicon Technology
Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here: http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
______________________________________
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The Scoop section:
-- Briefly noted, by Ron May
-- Total Attorneys story told by CEO Ed Scanlan
-- Paolo Messina, Ph.D. summarizes MIT-EF meeting on Jan. 19th on the economic outlook for 2010
-- Tuesday, Feb. 2nd: BNC VC Group, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell
-- Joe O'Malley: getting a kick out of your 10 things that you need to see before you die section
-- John P. Katsantonis: Who WOULDN'T rather be in Austin, Texas?
-- Rubicon Technology, an overlooked local tech firm
-- Charles Wu: Something interesting for you - a win for Illinois...
-- Yasuyoshi Kominato
-- Bob Geras: #26 on your "Bucket List"
-- Mike McCarty: http://www.townchicago.com
-- Jeff Meredith: Steven Pearlstein -- A man with a brain speaks about Massachusetts and what
1. OTHER
1a. The attack on comScore's marketing practices and data reliability by Jason Calacanis
1b. Cards Ron collected at the MIT-EF meeting on January 19th, 2010
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________________________________
The Scoop section:
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Briefly noted, by Ron May
* Our condolences to Lanny Feder and his family whose wife Judy died last week and the funeral was held today at Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook. http://www.bethshalomnb.org/ Donations should go to Chicago Botanic Gardens. Judy was ill for nine months with cancer, and died on January 22nd, I believe. She was only 64.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=138900853
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
JUDITH L. FEDER
Judith L. Feder, nee Levine, age 64, beloved wife of Laurence "Lanny"; loving mother of Gregory (Emily) and AmyBeth; cherished sister of Roberta Lovenheim; devoted daughter of the late Benjamin and Geraldine Levine. Service Monday, 11 a.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom, 3433 Walters Avenue, Northbrook. Interment King David Memorial Gardens, Falls Church, VA. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Judy's memory to the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL 60022. Info The Goldman Funeral Group, Irwin Goldman Director 847-478-1600.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Ken Novak has left Avery Cohen's firm Metrist Partners and has taken a high powered job at Tribune Interactive. The job is national. That leaves Avery with a lot more work.
* In fact, Avery missed The Monday Morning meeting and so did Len Bland and Lanny Feder. Len attended Lanny's wife's funeral. Len tells me the MMM is moving to every other month. Howerton appears to have taken over the meeting. I don't why I am not surprised by that. In the past twelve years, investors with a track record have MC'd the meetings.
* Read Jason Calacanis' blog entries below in this report and all the back story material. It sounds to me like The Gartner Group which has engaged in these practices for years. http://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner.
* Has anyone been following the story of China and Google and the story of how China is trying to block Avatar in its theaters, eliminating all 2-D theaters, and how they are introducing their own state financed film on Confucius instead? Fascinating developments and more on this to come.
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Total Attorneys story told by CEO Ed Scanlan
From: Name withheld upon request
Subject: re: Total Attorneys
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:29:01 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com
Please keep my name/info out of it.
Re: ? A strong rumor, not confirmed, that Total Attorneys, an up and
coming firm, beset by some legal and ethics problems, has just cut
north of 50 employees earlier this week.?
See: http://www.totalattorneys.com/blog/hardest-day-ive-had-as-a-ceo/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Total Attorneys Product Blog
Hardest day I've had as a CEO
Written by Ed Scanlan
Thursday, January 14, 2010 14:29
Today was a very difficult day for us. We laid off about 50 of our good friends and co-workers as part of a re-organization around our product offerings.
Many companies making the jump from start-up to enterprise have experienced the same pain. History has shown that it is nearly impossible to manage growth perfectly during this transition and we are no exception. The people leaving us today have made tremendous contributions to our products and services, our discourse and our culture and we will be sad to see them go.
This has been my most difficult decision in 8 years as Founder and CEO. I explored every alternative and poured over spreadsheets until my eyes blurred. I've come to the conclusion that this is our best path for continuing to be an effective and efficient enterprise that drives the greatest value to our customers and employees.
We wish a speedy transition to successful new careers for all of our former Totalites.
Tags:total attorneys
Comments (9)
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...
written by Bill, January 15, 2010
Hard as a CEO? How about job hunting in this shi**y economy. Try that, Eddie.
-3 ...
written by Ed, January 15, 2010
I know it's not going to be easy for any of these friends to pick up and find a job immediately. That's why we've provided each of them with 6 weeks of severance to make the transition as easy as possible. I know that looking for a job is never easy, but neither is working for a company that has made mistakes and happily ignores them. There's no future for anybody at a company like that.
+1 ...
written by Ken, January 15, 2010
Oh Ed, I am sure it was incredibly difficult for you. Failure is never easy and you seem to be doing it alot lately.
-4 ...
written by Ed, January 15, 2010
I'm proud to defend my performance as a CEO and our record as a company. To continue to have growth year over year in this economy is something to be proud of and I am. More to your point, I'm not afraid to make mistakes. As long as I learn from them. Yesterday was a difficult lesson and one I have learned from greatly. This is not a decision I took lightly, far from it. But I am absolutely confident that this is what is best for Total Attorneys, the employees that remain here and our customers who are the reason we're in business in the first place.
+2 ...
written by Samar, January 15, 2010
Ed, speaking for me personally I appreciated the opportunity to have worked at TA and the skills I gained. It was all a bit shocking, but I'm sure it was for the best of the company. I hope TA continues to successed and do that while remaining Wrenghy!
+2 ...
written by Tiffany, January 15, 2010
Having had the pleasure of working with Total Attorneys since it was a 25-person operation in early 2006, I have only positive things to say about Ed's (and Kevin Chern's)leadership. Every business is going to hit bumps and take the occasional wrong turn, but this one has taken fewer than most and seen incredible success even during difficult economic times.
+2 ...
written by Ellen, January 15, 2010
Working at Total Attorneys was an amazing opportunity. I will miss the cohesiveness of so many talented, wonderful people. I wish you luck in the future and hope to see you all soon.
+2 ...
written by Dan, January 19, 2010
Personally, I enjoyed my time at Total Attorneys. Working for a company with a rich corporate culture and honest and supportive people was extremely refreshing. I am disappointed about how things turned out, but I am extremely thankful for the experiences that I gained in my short time with the company. Best of luck moving forward!
+2 ...
written by Stephen Fairley, January 19, 2010
As a legal industry 'insider' who has watched TA from afar and up close, the company provides an exceptional value to all of its members and clients.
After visiting the TA offices and talking with many of their people I can confidently say it was and remains an amazing place to work and certainly one of the best led "small" companies in the legal industry.
Ed and Kevin are amazing people and if this had to be done, I can be confident in saying it must have been the only possible way. It's very evident they love their people and their team.
Ed and Kevin, I'm sorry you had to go through this. I'm know it wasn't easy. You will come through as a better and stronger company.
To all the people who were let go, yes it's a tough economy. Yes, you will miss the team atmosphere at TA, but know that you are a better person for having worked there.
Just remember...It's your attitude that determines your altitude!
Stephen Fairley
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Paolo Messina, Ph.D. summarizes MIT-EF meeting on Jan. 19th on the economic outlook for 2010
Subject: report
Date: 1/24/2010 12:02:27 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: paolonechicago@gmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Ronald,
Here is a draft for the report. I was unsure about the style and opted for
a chronological description with minimal comments.
I believe you can use the text to personalize it or improve it. My
English is Ok but not great.
About me:
PhD In physics and nanotechnology from the Swiss Institute of
Technology. Former scientist at the Max Plank Institute in Germany.
After holding various scientific and R&D positions in Italy, UK and
Israel, both in academia and in the private sector, I moved to the US to
work at Argonne National Lab for more than 3 years. I then became a
research scientist and engineer at the Alfred Mann Foundation for
biomedical research where I worked on applications of nanotechnology to
implantable medical devices. I am now analyzing and conceiving a
business plan, looking to connect with investors, the financial world in
Chicago. I also look for consulting contractor assignments. I have been
member of MIT-EF in Chicago and Los Angeles, Entretech in Los Angeles,
SouthCALBIO in Los Angeles, The Chicago International Trade Club and the
Chicago Chapter of the Italian American Chamber of Commerce.
Thank you
Paolo
On January 19th the Chicago Chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum held a session dedicated to the 2010 Economic Outlook and forecasts. The panel was composed of Bryce Bulman (BB) from Allianz Global Investors, Adolfo Laurenti (AL) from Mesirow Financial Holdings, Mark Keeley (MK) from Keeley Funds and Angela Librizzi (AnL) from Goldman Sachs. Tim Curley from UBS was the session moderator.
AL started the session by summarizing the status of the Economy for the year 2009. He pointed out that while GDP declined -0.4% overall the economy signaled some positive trends such as an increase of 4.5% in GDP in the last quarter. He was concerned about the fact that these improvements are mostly driven by temporary factors.
BB opened the discussion on the 2010 and made a forecast of a GDP growth in the 1.5 to 2.5 % suggesting that the large variability is due to uncertainty of the impact of various items such as fiscal policy, stimulus package, FED policy and Chinese attitude to buy US debt. He also suggested that the economy will probably land "the new normal," consumption will not go back to levels of 2007 and inflation may rise. BB explained that unemployment is not likely to come down quickly.
MK started the first round of his contribution looking again at 2009 explaining the extent of the difficulty financial firms have experienced in 2009 including his own. He confessed that at one point he was concerned about what to do if the worst came to the worst and his firm collapsed. However he also expressed a general optimism for the future as he believes in the long run that financial markets are driven by earnings and things will go back to normal.
AnL expanded forecasts for 2010 in greater details. She forecasted an overall USGDP growth of 2.3% thanks to the effect of the stimulus and the fact that many companies will rebuild their inventories. In addition she forecasted employment to increase in the second half of the year. However, overall she remained skeptical on possibilities for drastic unemployment improvements. She argued that more than 250 000 jobs per month are necessary to decrease the overall unemployment figure of 1% on annual base.
At this stage of the discussion AL took a lead in analyzing the entire economic scenario. He claimed the economy does not have momentum and banks are not generally ready for massive lending. Also he implied that the figure for 2011 may actually be worse than that for 2010. The reason for this is that the Federal Reserve (FED) will have to terminate its 0% interest policy and the Bush fiscal discounts will be over in 2011. AL finally criticized the current administration because it generates, according to him, an instability that leads banks to be even more conservative in their lending practices.
BB also expanded on the FED policy saying that the FED wants to live the 0% interest rate policy. He introduced a new element in the discussion suggesting that global markets will carry global growth and may have an impact of the US economic outlook as well.
AnL provided an analysis of the situation in the major emerging economies, China, India, Brazil and Russia. She forecasted China GDP to grow at 10% in 2010 and sees GDP growth of at least 8% (India), 4.8% (Brazil)and 4% (Russia) for the remaining three economies. She also suggested that the internal demand in these four markets is growing and that they may actually lead the rebound of the world economy after the 2008 and 2009 collapse.
MK took here a critic prospective on these forecasts. He said innovation that is at the essence of US economy is driven by small companies which suffer from the limited financial instruments they have to fund their growth. He said that China is not an innovator and that while India has potential for innovation its economy is suffocated by a tremendous bureaucracy. He said he would bet on the US economy and that the end of a recession is a great time for new businesses to lead the way.
AL revisited again the previous analysis on global growth and added that nowadays actually investing in once "advanced markets" is not necessarily safe. He added that not only the US harmed its own economy with a fake loan policy but also other countries managed to do so by for instance increasing public debt to intolerable levels. He said though that while he agrees that small companies in the US can drive a resurrection of the economy, he sees banking lending difficult in the near future. AL says that it is reasonable for banks to wait before starting to lend again.
The questions session rotated around three major issues, the first one being the risk in investing in emerging economies. AnL explained that in her vision major financial investment firms need to be there on site to analyze in detail their investments. AL replied again that risk is relative because nowadays both the US and Europe present significant risks to invest in too.
The second issue was about the trend of emerging economies to be cheap manufacturing hubs. The panelists generally agreed that for instance China is moving towards a robust internal demand and that actually if western manufacturers will be able to make a car for $3000 in India they will have an opportunity to sell plenty over there.
The third issue was about the impact of baby boomers retiring on the economy. Will there be the money to pay the pensions?
_______________________________________
Paolo, great job summarizing the key points! Thank you very much. I had minimal work cleaning up the spelling and grammar. Your English is assuredly much better than my Italian.
______________________________________
Tuesday, Feb. 2nd: BNC VC Group, Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell
Subject: BNC VC Group 2/2 5:00 PM at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell. Presenters include
Date: 1/25/2010 8:45:27 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: len_bland@conceptequity.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
See http://conceptequity.com/BNCVCGroup.htm for the complete newsletter version of this announcement.
BNC Venture Capital Group
Sign up here: 123 Signup http://tinyurl.com/bncvc0202
Tuesday 2/2/2010, 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM 111 S. Wacker Drive, 41st Floor
Please do not arrive before 5:00 PM.
The BNC Venture Capital Group introduces exciting investment opportunities to professional investors (angels, early stage venture capitalists, and private equity firms seeking add-ons) and fosters the growth of entrepreneurial activity.
Len Bland, CEO of Concept Equity www.conceptequity.com, and David Carman, CEO of Business Network Chicago www.bnchicago.org, lead the BNC Venture Capital Group.
We will review four entrepreneurial opportunities. Each presentation lasts 10 minutes, followed by a 15 minute Q&A.
Effective presentations answer 4 questions:
·What is the product or service?
-Why will customers buy it?
·Why is the management team qualified to execute the business plan?
·How will the investor make money?
5:00 PM - Networking
5:30 PM - Champion Medical Technologies
6:00 PM - EcoGen
6:30 PM - Break
6:45 PM - Presentation
7:15 PM - Presentation
Champion Medical Technologies www.championmedtech.com revolutionizes medical industry inventory tracking with their software as a service (SaaS) platform. Their programs help hospitals and medical device manufacturers, manage their growing inventory of expensive medical products including human tissue grafts, metal or synthetic implants.
EcoGen http://www.ecomobil.us/ecomobil/page.htm provides affordable alternative fuel technology to emerging economies that are dominated by older vehicles which are acutely sensitive both to fuel prices and emission pollutants. The company's major innovation is a Catalytic Fuel Enhancer that injects hydrogen into any internal combustion engine.
Location:
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell http://www.lockelord.com/
111 South Wacker Drive, 41st Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Sign up at 123Signup http://tinyurl.com/bncvc0202 - Event cost $25
Evening Meeting includes food and beverages
Call Len Bland at 847-317-0656 or write len_bland@conceptequity.com with questions or if you have any difficulty registering. Other investors welcome.
If you have a scheduling conflict, please join us for the next meeting set for 3/2/2010.
Regards,
Len Bland, CPA
CEO
http://twitter.com/conceptlen
Office/Cell: 847-317-0656
Fax: 847-919-4396
www.conceptequity.com
Next BNC Venture Capital Group Meeting http://conceptequity.com/BNCVCGroup.htm
Join BNC Venture Capital Group notification list http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016Lv3Y6gdJ3RjmMMIGaxCWw%3D%3D
Current investment opportunities http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016Lv3Y6gdJ3RjmMMIGaxCWw%3D%3D
Concept Equity Blog http://conceptequity.com/blog/
_________________________________________________
Joe O'Malley: getting a kick out of your 10 things that you need to see before you die section
From: Joe O'Malley jomalley@thesimonsgroup.com
Subject: RE: The May Report: 1/22/2010: A strong rumor, not confirmed, that Total Attorneys, an up and coming firm, beset by some legal and ethics problems, has just cut north of 50 employees earlier this week.
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:24:57 -0600
To: "'The May Report'" ron@themayreport.com
Ron,
I am getting a kick out of your 10 things that you need to see before you die section.
Joe O'Malley
The Simons Group
jomalley@thesimonsgroup.com
www.thesimonsgroup.com
___________________________________________
John P. Katsantonis: Who WOULDN'T rather be in Austin, Texas?
From: John P. Katsantonis jpkattt@att.net
Subject: Re: The May Report: 1/21/2010: Sernovitz bolts Chicago for Austin, TX; more on MIT-EF and K&L Gates; Off to the hospital; IfbyPhone buys Cloudvox
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:36:21 -0600
To: The May Report ron@themayreport.com
Actually, who WOULDN'T rather be in Austin, Texas (...as opposed to what, the former west-side Chicago township that became a neighborhood?) this time of year??? Then again, you've never implied that Andy was stupid. Heck, I've been planning a month in Texas myself, Ron. Maybe I should use all my Lone Star connections to launch TMR/SW, eh?? (Then again, the summers have become unlivable.)
never mind~jk
________________________________________
Rubicon Technology, an overlooked local tech firm
From: Name withheld upon request
Subject: Rubicon Technology
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:56:58 -0600
To: Ron May Report ron@themayreport.com
Good morning Ron,
(please don't publish my name or contact info).
I just flew in from San Francisco and was surprised to see on the inflight TV show on United a detailed discussion of how Rubicon Technology makes "glass" for military helicopters. It was a pretty involved 30 minute bit where they discuss saphires, how aluminum oxide (?) can be heated into artificial saphires, and how that can be turned into bullet-proof glass for military use. In scanning the archives, I noticed that you hadn't posted anything on Rubicon for nearly 5 years. This sounds like a great story of Chicago entrepreneurship.
For the record, I had never even heard of the company until today. Just as importantly, I have zero financial benefit or connection with Rubicon or anyone involved with the company.
Hope you're well,
_______________________________________
Charles Wu: Something interesting for you - a win for Illinois...
From: Charles Wu cwu@cticonnect.com
Subject: Something interesting for you - a win for Illinois...
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:28:54 -0600
To: The May Report ron@themayreport.com
Hi Ron,
See attached
In case you have problems opening the file - it is also online here in pdf format: http://www.cticonnect.com/images/Small%20_Business_Win_Big_in_Broadband_Stimulus-CTI's_Stimilus_Program.pdf
-Charles
Charles Wu
President
cwu@cticonnect.com
cell: 773-870-0962 • office: 773-667-4585 x2500
16W235 83rd Street, Suite A, Burr Ridge, IL 60527 • tel: 773.667.4585 fax: 773.326.4641
_________________________________________
Yasuyoshi Kominato
From: yasuyoshi kominato yasuyoshik@yahoo.com
Subject: hey
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:45:23 -0800 (PST)
To: The May Report ron@themayreport.com
biooootch
--- On Thu, 1/21/10, The May Report <ron@themayreport.com> wrote:
_________________________________________
Bob Geras: #26 on your "Bucket List"
Subject: Re: #26 on your "Bucket List"
Date: 1/22/2010 10:41:12 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: bob@vcbob.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com, ron@themayreport.com
Ron,
First, I resent that you've been peeping through my window to see who's been smooching my naked derriere. Don't you have better things to do? Does it give you that much of a thrill? If so, just ask. I may let you get in line to accommodate your fantasy.
Second, Ass Kissing has some advantages over Hardwork, Knowledge or Attitude. From a strictly mathematical viewpoint it goes like this:
If each letter in the alphabet are given numerical percentages from A to Z, A being 1% and Z being 26%
Then: H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
(8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11) = 98%
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+! 14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
But, (no pun intended!!) look how far Ass Kissing will take you:
A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will just get you there, Ass Kissing will put you way over the top!
Now you know the rest of the story.
Bob
--
Bob Geras
LaSalle Investments
______________________________________________
Mike McCarty: http://www.townchicago.com
Mike McCarty: http://www.townchicago.com
From: Mike McCarty mmccarty@microthought.com
Subject: content use
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:34:49 -0500
To: ron@themayreport.com
Ron,
I have been reading your report for years- I was wondering if we can use your report on our
New portal http://www.townchicago.com
Or if you would like to have a section that you can upload some great Chicago news.
Thanks- Mike McCarty
Town Chicago
____________________________________________
Jeff Meredith: Steven Pearlstein -- A man with a brain speaks about Massachusetts and what
Subject: Steven Pearlstein -- A man with a brain speaks about Massachusetts and what
Date: 1/21/2010 9:40:27 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: jeffmere@gmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com, ron@themayreport.com
As Jonathan Chait wrote, "It's too bad the only newspaper reporters who understand how politics actually work are writing for the business page." Steven Pearlstein nails it ...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
"As U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts famously reminded, all politics is local. There are lots of reasons other than derailing health reform why normally liberal Massachusetts voters may have wanted to send an angry signal to the state's political establishment." - Pearlstein, absolutely on the money
========================================================
GOP win doesn't mean health reform is dead
By Steven Pearlstein
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The biggest political issue in the country today is the Democrats' health-care reform proposal, which lives or dies based on whether it can attract 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster.
That 6oth vote was up for grabs in Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts, a reliably liberal and Democratic state.
The Democratic candidate promised she'd vote for the health bill, which the Republican vowed to vote against.
The Republican won after surging the final weeks of the campaign.
Ergo, health-care reform is dead.
This is the kind of facile conclusion and faulty logic that, unfortunately, drives too much of the political narrative, just as it did after gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. So let's break it down into its component parts and see where it goes astray.
The first thing to say is that while those of us who are Washington insiders may be focused on health reform, the country has its mind on lots of other things. First and foremost is a lousy economy that has resulted in lots of lost jobs and lost wealth, a big spike in the federal deficit, and big budget shortfalls for state and local governments. Combine that with lousy weather, an attempted terrorist attack, a never-ending war in Afghanistan and an earthquake that may have just killed 200,000 people and you don't have to be George Gallup to figure out that Americans are in a grumpy mood and might want to take it out on the politicians and parties in power.
That seething discontent is no less evident in Florida and California, states with Republican governors, than it is in Virginia and New Jersey, which until this month had Democratic governors. And it's even true in other countries -- Britain, Ireland, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Chile and Argentina are several that come to mind. The common thread in those places isn't health-care reform.
Point 2 is that the Constitution does not require 60 votes in the Senate to pass a health reform bill -- or anything else, for that matter. A filibuster-proof majority certainly makes it quicker and easier, and there's been a lot of clever talk about parliamentary maneuvers that could get some version of the bill to the president's desk with fewer votes than that. The better approach, however, has always been the straightforward one: Put the final package before the Senate and make the lawmakers talk and talk, amend and amend, vote and vote until a deal is struck and the majority is allowed to work its will.
Given how dug in everyone has become over the past two months, I'm mindful of how difficult it will be to get a few Republicans to sign on to such a deal. But there is very little in the latest version of the health-care bill that Maine's two Republican senators haven't supported in the past or couldn't support in the future. In succumbing to the intense social and political pressure from their caucus, both Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins flunked the leadership test last year. Massachusetts has now given them a second chance to redeem their reputations and political fortunes in a state that has always valued independence over party loyalty.
The third and most important point to make is that the Massachusetts contest was not a referendum on health-care reform, despite the best efforts of the national media and the national parties to make it so. It has been more than a few years since I worked the political vineyards of my home state, but even from a distance it's not hard to see that the political fault lines haven't changed all that much. Despite the state's reputation as a Democratic stronghold, its voters have routinely elected liberal Republicans as governors and senators as counterweights to the ethnic Democratic pols who have long controlled the state legislature. And at the moment, the voters are rather fed up with the whole statehouse crowd. The House speaker and a number of others have recently been ensnared in a long-running corruption investigation, while the Democratic governor has turned out to be a huge disappointment to those who thought he could clean up the political process and bring stability to the state's troubled finances.
Against that backdrop, it's not hard to understand the attraction to a fresh Republican face promising independence from the political establishment rather than an attorney general whose campaign was closely tied to it. All of this was reinforced last weekend by the juxtaposition of Scott Brown traveling around the state to meet voters in his pickup truck and Martha Coakley scrambling to revive her campaign with a series of appearances with the president, the governor, mayors and members of the state's all-Democratic congressional delegation.
As for health care, Massachusetts has already adopted a reform plan that, with its subsidies and individual mandate and government-run insurance exchange, looks to the naked eye not unlike the plan now before Congress. Despite some initial glitches and higher-than-expected costs, the program has broad support among voters and the business community-- so broad, in fact, that Brown himself has said he would not vote to repeal it. So why would those same voters now be rising up to defeat a national plan modeled on the Massachusetts experiment, only this time with better cost controls and special provisions to protect the state's teaching hospitals and increase its Medicaid funding?
As U.S. House Speaker Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts famously reminded, all politics is local. There are lots of reasons other than derailing health reform why normally liberal Massachusetts voters may have wanted to send an angry signal to the state's political establishment. For Democrats in Washington, the danger now is not that they will ignore the election returns, but that they will misread them and sound a premature retreat from a historic and game-changing opportunity.
_________________________________________
1. OTHER
1a. The attack on comScore's marketing practices and data reliability by Jason Calacanis
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://calacanis.com/2010/01/23/why-we-should-boycott-comscore-and-perhaps-why-traders-should-short-their-stock/
Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders should short their stock)
From my email newsletter today.... if you want these first, sign up for it!
---- Forwarded message ----
From: Jason Calacanis
Date: Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Subject: Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders
should short their stock)
Jason's List: Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why
traders should short their stock)
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Comscore is the technology industry's biggest bully, and today I'm
calling for an industry-wide boycott of their services.
I'm asking journalist and bloggers to stop covering their stats, I'm
asking advertisers to not use their services, and finally, I'm asking
startup companies to not support their new and widely reported on
"$10,000 to get your stats correct" extortion ring.
If I was a stock trader I would short the stock-but I'm not-so I
won't (I keep my money in bonds and angel investments for the record).
Also, if you own Comscore shares, I'm not going to tell you that you
should sell them, but if I were an analyst-and I'm not-I would
probably tell folks to sell every share they had, and as quickly as
possible.
Additionally, I'm asking Comscore to drop their "pay for correct
stats" model in the next ten days.
Let's get into why.
Comscore's Reign of Terror
--------
For over a decade, I've railed against our industry's leading metrics
company ComScore with little result.
It all started when I was a journalist in the 90s for the Silicon
Alley Reporter. I listened to company after company from Silicon Alley
to Silicon Valley complain about how ComScore's method of counting
traffic websites, via a sample of users, was incorrect.
People couldn't understand why the internet industry, with it's
ability to track traffic perfectly, would ever adopt the failed
sample-based methods used on television and radio. Comscore's ideas
were antiquated and unnecessary.
Entrepreneurs would show me their internal stats, which were typically
three to five times larger than Comscore's numbers, and beg me to
correct them in the Silicon Alley Reporter.
However, I noticed a pattern: the big companies didn't complain about Comscore.
Why?
Well, from what multiple people shared with me, you simply had to
follow the money. According to these folks it was an unspoken truth
for years that if you paid Comscore they fixed your numbers, and if
you were a small company and didn't, well, you suffered. Comscore
would probably deny this, but their recent "pay to play" product shows
their true stripes.
They screwed me at Weblogs, Inc.
--------
It wasn't until I started Weblogs, Inc. that I really felt the sting
of not participating in the Comscore protection racket. You see,
advertisers love Comscore and they make advertising buys based on it.
Our small, but growing blogs, were under reported month after month
and Comscore basically told me to pound salt when I complained. It
cost me money, and I promised myself that if I could ever support
another service that wasn't based on payola I would.
Here you can see a smoking gun from 2005 when Comscore did a "study"
on blogs with Gawker Media as a sponsor. Interestingly, Gawker's blogs
did really well in the study. The only problem was that Comscore's
numbers were different than the SiteMeter traffic that Gawker and
Weblogs Inc. were publishing at the time.
Denton privately admitted to me he support Comscore because he had to
because of their reputation in the advertising industry. He thought I
should bite the bullet as well and get in bed with the bullies. Not my
style, sorry.
[[ Some links from 2005 Comscore: Show us the data or get out of Dodge
http://bit.ly/4I7S6i [Editor's note: May here. See below for this article] and ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3526851 - Fred
Wilson throws me under the bus: http://bit.ly/8BpFnh [Editor's note: May here. See below for this article.]]]
I publicly complained about Comscore but no one would really listen.
Actually Jeff Jarvis did support me: http://bit.ly/8zW0GF
My good friend Fred Wilson, who had invested in the firm, turned away
and watched the bullies he invested in pummel me when I complained
about Comscore. Fred is outspoken and an advocate of startups-except
with Comscore. He's turned a blind eye while letting his huge venture
return in Comscore color his objectivity. In fact, it must be obvious
to Fred that Comscore is, in fact, holding back his other startup
investments by extorting money from them!
Fred's been an amazing supporter of mine over the years, but I've
never been able to get over the fact that he invested in and supported
these guys. Fred's continued support of this company is unconscionable
at this point. He needs to come out and say that Comscore charging
$10,000 for this product is a pure shake down.
Do it Fred... you know you want to!
ComScore Tries to Buy Me Off
--------
This summer the tough guys at Comscore approached me with a
clandestine deal after I continued to publicly complain about their
methods. The message was clear: if I stopped criticizing them and
publicly supported their server data measurement program they would
not charge me. The $10,000 it would cost a year for this service would
be free for me if I threw my fellow entrepreneurs under the bus.
Their email to me included something out of the a Sopranos episode:
"Normally there is a cost to implement, but in this case we will
gladly waive the charge if you are interested." Yeah, and if you're
not interested perhaps you would like to come on a fishing trip with
us this weekend.
You bastards think that after a *decade* of me trying to stop your
extortion you can by me off by simply waiving some fees? I could
easily pay the $10,000 fee today but I will never give you guys a
dime. I will remember what you did to me when I was coming up forever.
I'd rather lose half my revenue from advertising as Mahalo grows from
a top 1,000 site (2007), to the top 400 sites (2008) and now a top 200
site (2009), and eventually even a top 50 site I hope (2011?)-than
give you even one ounce of my support.
I wrote back: "You guys are evil for charging companies-I would never
support you. Quantcast and Google are going to crush you guys.... And
I'm telling everyone I know to support Quantcast."
They never contacted me again.
Comscore formalizes their extortion ring
--------
This week you may have read over at the excellent "All Things D" that
Comscore is now willing to do real metrics on your website if you give
them $10,000 a year. They claim this is to pay for their servers.
More: http://bit.ly/6Fqrhe
This after they spent the last decade criticizing the direct
measurement methods of their competitors like Quantcast and Google
Analytics as being flawed! Now they say pixel tracking-actual
measurement on the server side-is the best method. What a bunch of
slim buckets.
Could it be that enough publishers and advertisers have told you to go
f- yourself in the past year?
Could it be that Quantcast has a product that is 100x better than your
service and it's FREE?
Could it be that Compete.com is secretly testing a server-side testing
method like Quantcast's and is about to kick your ass?
From where I sit, this is Comscore's desperate Hail Mary pass to try
and save their dying protection racket. Comscore has ZERO value when
Google Analytics, Compete.com and Quantcast allow you to publicly and
freely track your stats.
Bullies, Ethics & Your Part
--------
As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I learned that when you or your
friends were being bullied there was really only one solution to the
problem: punch the bully directly in the face as hard as you can the
second they approached you. Like really, the second they come at
you-the second the first word comes out of their mouth-punch them in
the face. Don't let them even finish their sentence. If they say "I
want your milk money" your fist should make contact right around the
"want" mark.
BANG!
At a young age I tested this technique and it resulted in a couple of
multi-day suspensions from school and black eyes, but it is a
life-long strategy for success that has never failed me. Do not let
yourself or your friends get bullied-ever. Even if you get your ass
kicked, at least you got your shot in and you held your ground.
When someone from Comscore approaches, you should tell them to go
hell. (Note: do not literally punch them in the face-I'm not
advocating physical violence here, I'm advocating voting with your
dollar.)
I put up a good fight for a decade but made little progress and
frankly got my ass kicked by Comscore in the Weblogs, Inc. days.
However, their obnoxious behavior has finally been publicly exposed.
This means that we-as an industry-can finally run this bully out of
town.
Again, here is what I'm asking for in the Comscore Boycott. Feel free
to republish this article in whole at your blog.
The Comscore Boycott: Play Your Part!
======================
1. Startups: Do NOT pay a single penny to Comscore-ever.
2. Startups who are getting this program for free (I suspect a good
number): Opt out and tell Comscore to f- themselves.
3. Press & Bloggers: Please do not run Comscore's inaccurate numbers,
and please expose their extortion ring.
4. Advertisers: Do not use Comscore to plan your media buys: use the
free and more accurate Quantcast.
5. Google: Please release your version Comscore killer (based on
Quantcast's model), or better yet PLEASE BUY QUANTCAST!
6. Compete.com: Please release your Comscore killer.
7. Stock traders & Analysts: Please think deeply about the potential
revenue destruction that Comscore could be facing.
8. Fred Wilson: publicly state that you do not agree with ComScore's
mafia-like methods.
9. Republish this email at your blog.
10. If you have information on Comscore that should be exposed send it
to me in confidence (say anonymous up top)
To My "Friends" at Comscore
-------------
You know I'm right.
As such, I'm asking for complete and unconditional surrender. Make
your tracking pixel program 100% free in the next 10 days or the
boycott will continue.
If you're a current or former executive at Comscore and you have an
opinion on this please send me your thoughts in confidence, and I will
republish them to the list without your name.
If you're a current employee who can't deal with this any more, please
add me on LinkedIn and ask for a LinkedIn introduction to the Google
Analytics, Compete.com or Quantcast teams. I will gladly forward
talented people from Comscore on to companies I think are more
ethical.
All the best,
Jason
You can find me here:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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http://www.thisweekinstartups.com
http://www.facebook.com/jasoncalacanis
http://www.blippy.com/jason (angel investor)
http://www.calacanis.com
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http://www.challengepost.com/jason-calacanis (angel investor)
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Jason Calacanis
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Office Phone: 310-593-6134
email: jason@calacanis.com
| Permalink | Comments [17]
17 Comments »
Pretty good post. I had quite a similar disdain for Handango who used similar tactics when they started selling Tablet PC software. Obviously that's peanuts compared to this but anyway. Damn those slim buckets trying to by you off!
Comment by Josh Einstein - January 23, 2010 @ 8:25 pm
Jason,
I have to say, was this really necessary? I understand your hatred for this company, but it doesn't sound like to me they are doing anything illegal. Yeah, you may not agree with what they are doing, but it doesn't mean you need to go and publicly bash them. Kind of brings your credibility and respect level down. Sorry. I don't know anything about Comscore nor am I affiliated with them. But this article leaves a bad taste in my mouth about you as a person.
Comment by Anoynomous - January 23, 2010 @ 8:43 pm
I'll admit I am not familiar with Comscore, but then I am only just beginning to get involved with creating my own web site and have a lot to learn and a long way to go before I would ever need to have accurate numbers for my site. I certainly won't be paying anyone for those numbers either. I will certainly post a copy of this to my own blog, and add a link to my Facebook profile as well. Keep up the great work, Jason!
Comment by Ratherbflyin - January 23, 2010 @ 9:22 pm
I pretty much parrot what Ratherbflyin says in his comment, and would add that from what I have heard from you on TWiT and your Twitter posts that I think you are a trusted source on this matter. I also will be re-posting to my blog, and when RMCS.info is up and running, Quantcast will be given a serious look when the need arises.
Comment by Richard Mackey - January 23, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
[...] leave a comment » Just read Jason's diatribe today on Comscore. [...]
Pingback by Calacanis Scores? « Serious Simplicity - January 23, 2010 @ 9:53 pm
[...] to Boycott Comscore Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com, has issued a call to boycott Comscore. I will be the first to admit that I am not terribly familiar with Comscore, but if half of what [...]
Pingback by Call to Boycott Comscore « Ratherbflyin's Ramblings - January 23, 2010 @ 10:23 pm
Comscore has no future; the emperor truly has no clothes, from their 10Q:
"The foundation of our platform is data collected from our comScore panel of more than two million Internet users worldwide who have granted us explicit permission to confidentially measure their Internet usage patterns, online and certain offline buying behavior and other activities. By applying advanced statistical methodologies to our panel data, we project consumers' online behavior for the total online population and a wide variety of user categories."
50% fall in stock price Monday.
Comment by Scott Salomon - January 23, 2010 @ 10:43 pm
Jason -
Man the turrets! I run rather large site (top 500) and have been sick of these a-holes for years! Their numbers are absolutely wrong, and cause me pain every month. I 100% support your efforts, and will continure to ignore the thugs at ComScore.
Comment by Max - January 23, 2010 @ 11:47 pm
I'm with you- down with the traffic scoring mafia. It seems that Google could destroy them in one fell swoop by exposing an optional "public stats" section of Analytics. I don't like the idea of running more than one tracking stats program if I already have GA.
Comment by Brian Houston - January 24, 2010 @ 12:08 am
Great points Jason!
Just one thing - I would advise against telling people to short the stock (sell it - yes, short it - no)
Am only saying as inevitably mass short interest on the stock, will only be picked up as a short squeeze candidate by the quants. Ultimately, it will hurt those that are short and they could lose serious money.
So sell for sure and hurt the company that way. Don't hurt yourself by shorting it outright.
Everything else - agree with!
Comment by Darshan - January 24, 2010 @ 12:10 am
[...] full post on Hacker News If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it! Tagged with: Boycott [...]
Pingback by Why We Should Boycott ComScore - January 24, 2010 @ 12:11 am
i left several comments to this post on jason's posterous blog.
http://jasoncalacanis.posterous.com/why-we-should-boycott-comscore-and-perhaps-wh
Comment by fred wilson - January 24, 2010 @ 1:02 am
Without a doubt "panel" metrics for websites represent a very old
technique. There is definitely competition in this are and I
wouldn't expect this "pay to play" method to get as much traction
now as it might have in the past.
Comment by Stephen Johnston - January 24, 2010 @ 1:24 am
Excellent piece, Jason.
Will definitely share it and keep it all in mind.
Comment by Darren Lehane - January 24, 2010 @ 1:52 am
Here's one vote of support. We have been offered a 3 month trial - and I'm going to turn it down. I agree - we'll be using quantcast going forward.
Gil@Wikia
Comment by Gil penchina - January 24, 2010 @ 2:44 am
I can verify that everything Jason talks about in relation to Comscore's tracking methods and their accuracy being a huge fail. However, if you pay them, they will all of the sudden be much more accurate.
A huge racket if I've ever seen one.
Comment by E K - January 24, 2010 @ 2:53 am
I'm with you Jason! Just tweeted your article.
Comment by Kenneth Holland - January 24, 2010 @ 3:02 am
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://calacanis.com/2005/08/09/comscore-show-us-the-data-or-get-out-of-dodge/
[Editor's note: May here. There are
Comscore: Show us the data or get out of Dodge
The press person at Comscore just hung up the phone on me wow, I guess they are really feeling the heat from putting out such a silly report today. he said they would "deal with this" tomorrow.
This is the great thing about the blogosphere, if you put out something that is wrongor possibly wrongpeople will fact check you real quick,
Now, I don't know what Comscore was thinking when they printed this datapaid for by Nick Denton and writen by a good friend of Nick Denton'sbut at the very least they should have been more transparent.
Let's look at a couple of charts. First the visitors to blogs. As you can see Comscore is saying that Fleshbot and Gawker have more visitorsget thisthan Slashdot!
When Rick showed me the data a year ago I saw this immediatley and he told me he agreed that this couldn't be correct. Well, it's a year later and Gawker and Fleshbot still do not get Slashdot traffic.
Take a look at the Alexa rankings of these three sites. Now, we all know these are not perfect but they do show the trend well. Fleshbot and Gawker are not even close to Slashdot.
Add to this that Nick's stat package shows Gizmodo had 5.1M, 4.8 and 5.1M in the first three months of 2005 for a total of 15M visits. Gawker had just 3.5M visits in January and 4M in Feb and March for a total of 11.5M visits in the 1Q of 2005 (not visitors, but visits). The Comscore data put unique visitors for 887K vs. 1.13M.
So, according to this report:
1. Fleshbot and Gawker are bigger then Slashdot.
2. Gawker is 30% bigger than Gizmodo in visitors even though Nick's visitor stats show that Gawker gets ~76% of the traffic of Gizmdodo.
You can go down the entire list and find examples of how wrong this data istrust me I'm comparing Nick's traffic logs to our traffic logs and then comparing them to Alexa trends. It's clear to me that the Comscore data iswellflawed. It can't even rank Nick's own blogs!
If Comscore wants to be taken seriously they should do three things:
1. RELEASE THE DATA
2. Tell us how much Gawker and SixApart paid
3. Tell us exactly what their involvement was.
You claim to have 400 blogs and their traffic for the past year? Let's see it and let's see it right now. Don't clean it up give it to us raw. The blogosphere can then compare stat logs and Alexa data and tell you exactly how accurate your sample is.
If you want to be part of the blogosphere you need to brush up on the concept of TRANSPARENCY, because we don't take kindly to folks coming into our town and talking smack without having backup.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.clickz.com/3526851
ComScore Blog Study Sparks Controversy, Vitriol
By Enid Burns, ClickZ, Aug 11, 2005
Share Hostilities flared this week between the two best-known blog networks after comScore released a blog readership study that was co-sponsored by Six Apart and blog network Gawker Media.
The turmoil highlighted both the problems of panel-based media research and the increasingly high stakes of blog advertising.
The report aims to measure the size and characteristics of the blog audience, as well as to rank the most highly trafficked sites in this category. Its findings, perhaps predictably, have been both hailed and criticized by those with a stake in blog advertising models.
Media buyers have been clambering for just the sort of demographic profiling it offers, and blog publishers should benefit overall from its discovery that the blog audience is both richer and younger than the overall Internet audience.
Yet the research has been challenged by several prominent bloggers, including -- most loudly -- Jason Calacanis, publisher of Gawker rival Weblogs Inc. Network (WIN).
Calacanis accused comScore of bias and inconsistency, pointing specifically to discrepancies between blog traffic rankings offered by the report versus those sites' own stats packages. He calls into question the number of sites published by report sponsor Gawker Media that fall in the top 20 sites ranked by unique visitors and visits. And he's particularly appalled at the report's rating of Gawker.com over WIN's Engadget.com.
"[The report] contradicts [Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton's] own statistics that he has publicly available on his site, that's the smoking gun right there," Calacanis told ClickZ News. On his blog, Calacanis has accused comScore of bias based on the personal relationship between Denton and the report's author, Rick Bruner. He has also called for comScore to publicly release its data to the blogosphere in Excel format.
Denton posted findings of the study to his blog on Monday, hours before its release. He also shared figures showing the specific traits of Gawker Media's audience, which he said he requested for sales purposes.
Denton dismissed Calacanis' objections.
"I know it galls Jason Calacanis that his sites are about as memorable as Burger King franchises, and that none register among the top blogs, except Pete Rojas's Engadget," he said.
Denton added, "But Jason Calacanis misses the big picture. The study finally provides evidence for what we've all hoped for: that blog readers are younger and richer than average, and, one hopes, thinner."
Calacanis noted Denton and report author Rick Bruner are friends. Bruner, who is director of research at DoubleClick, was never an employee of comScore, but worked on the report pro bono. He said he approached comScore to produce the report. ComScore agreed, but wanted a sponsor. "I reached out to Nick and the folks at Six Apart, they were interested and we got the sponsorship and proceeded," said Bruner.
The controversy over the report highlights more than just the colorful personalities of the individuals at its center. It also points to the considerable problems of online audience measurement.
"These are some technicalities that can lead to differences," said comScore SVP Dan Hess. "There are other data sets out there that seek to estimate audiences; many use number of links to a site, or users of a particular toolbar that visit a site, data points that can be interesting, but not based on panels built specifically for media research."
In a blog post responding to criticism of the report, Bruner wrote, "My opinion is the best information market research can give us is this: 'Is it bigger than a breadbox?' This research study satisfactorily answers that question for the blogosphere: Yes. There is no flawless methodology in market research. It's an inexact science. Samples get biased, corners are cut, yadda-yadda-yadda. It's always directional, at best."
ComScore uses data collected from a panel of 1.5 million U.S. Internet users. Bruner added the relative rankings of Gawker.com and WIN's Engadget.com could be explained by a larger international audience for the WIN property.
As the debate rages, comScore stands by its data.
"Sponsorship has no bearing on the production of the research," said Hess. "The same standards of objective research apply. We conducted the study using objective and best available methods at the time we did it, and various approaches and methods that we used are disclosed in the report." Hess said a small fraction of the overall work that comScore does is sponsored.
Calacanis said he wanted to sponsor the report. "I asked to be involved," he said, and claims an employee at comScore hung up on him earlier this week when he called to discuss the findings.
Some other bloggers have echoed doubts raised by Calacanis on his own blog. Among those to publicly weigh in on it are digital media expert Jeff Jarvis, who authors BuzzMachine, and Fred Wilson, a prominent digital marketing venture capitalist, comScore investor, and blogger. Wilson commended the research firm for tackling the subject, but said, "There are some questionable stats in this report."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2005/08/comscore_measur.html
Comscore Measures Blogs (continued)
A couple weeks ago, I got my hands on a presentation that Comscore made to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and posted it on this blog.
I am an investor in and a director of Comscore and have been working with this great company since 1999. The team at Comscore is constantly pushing the envelope in measuring the Internet. They were the first to build a megapanel, the first to measure online commerce at the transaction level, the first to measure search, the first to measure streaming audio, the first to build a hispanic panel, etc, etc.
So its not surprising that they are the first to deliver a comprehensive measurement of the blog audience.
I ended my post from several weeks ago with:
As Comscore starts drilling down into the specific blogs, even more data will come out.
Hopefully they'll publish it and we can start learning more about what is going on in the blog world.
Well it didn't take long. Yesterday Comscore put out "Behaviors of the Blogosphere", by far the most comprehensive analysis of the blog audience that I have seen.
I am not going to cut and paste from the report because its a PDF and that's a pain in the butt to do (as Jeff Jarvis' post on this report shows).
And this is just the start. As Comscore starts to build a dictionary for the blog world and starts to track this emerging part of the Internet, we'll be treated to even more granular and interesting data.
There are some questionable stats in this report. Gizmodo over Engadget? Defamer over Boing Boing? I have my doubts about some of the blog specific data and the fact that Nick Denton was the co-sponsor of this report begs the question even more. My guess is that Nick provided really good data on his blogs whereas the other blogs were not measured quite so accurately.
But that's where Comscore is really strong. They'll take the feedback they get from this report and drill down and eventually they'll nail it.
The important story here is that blogs have gotten attention at a major measurement firm. That's a big deal and I am glad it's Comscore leading the pack once again.
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» comScore and Bloggers from Blogspotting
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Posted August 9, 2005 in Venture Capital and Technology
Comments
Clearly the data is way off. If they can't get the basic stats in this report correct and they NEVER EVEN CONTACTED us that is very strange. Was Weblogs, Inc. blocked from being in this report? I don't know, but I can tell you:
1. Engadget passed Gizmodo in Q4 2004. Alexa shows that, as does our internal data.
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?&range=1y&size=medium&compare_sites=gizmodo.com&y=t&url=www.engadget.com#top
2. They put Gawker's blogs in a group but didn't put Weblogs, Inc. blogs in a group.
3. I was just told the co-author of the report is Rick Bruner who is Nick's very, very good friend from Budapest.
http://www.executivesummary.com/archives/2004/08/testimonial_tes.php
I spoke to Rick when he showed me the comscore data months and months ago and told him the data was totally off and he said they knew this and were working on it. However, Rick never contact me or tried to get the data correct. I would have been more then willing to give them our internal data. Again, I don't know that we were blocked from being in this report, but the data is wrong.
I'm all for research on blogs, and this is a good start. However, to leave out the largest blog publisher while promoting the second largest blog publisher who is paying for the report is.... well.... strange.
Posted by: Jason | Aug 9, 2005 1:17:09 PM
The fact that Denton was a part of the study brings an obvious conflict of interest into play.
Calacanis is pissed about this, as always.
Without conflict, there is no interest.
_______________________________________________
1b. Cards Ron collected at the MIT-EF meeting on January 19th, 2010
Mark Keeley
Keeley Investment Corp.
Keeley Funds
www.keeleyfunds.com
mkeeley@kic.kamco.com
Robbie Abed, PMP
President
Design Develop Delivr
www.rawdesignr.com
t @ rawdesignr
robbie.abed@rawdesignr.com
rickie.dorgan@gmail.com
maria.rafn@gmail.com
Marc V. Richards
Intellectual Property Attorney
Brinks Hoffer Gilson & Lione
www.usebrinks.com
mrichards@usebrinks.com
Bill Burnett
Chief Idea Uncorker
Cork Consultants
www.corkconsultants.com
burnettwm@gmail.com
David A. Culver
Presidennt
Mentor Mastermind, Inc.
www.mentormastermind.com
david@mentormastermind.com
Steve Ghareeb
Consultant
Objective Arts Tech Consulting
www.objectivearts.com
sghareeb@objectivearts.com
Stephen D. Sayre
Attorney at Law
Dykema
www.dykema.com
ssayre@dykema.com
Paolo Messina, Ph.D.
Research and Development Engineer
www.aemf.org
paolo@aemf.org
paoloechicago@gmail.com
Rabia Khokhar
Business Development
Jinmaloo
www.jinmaloo.com
rkhokhar@jinmaloo.com
Olivia Yoon
Econ degree at U of C
ivory@uchicago.edu
Jing Zhao Cesarone
Xinhua News Agency
jing@chinawiseusa.com
David Dalka
www.daviddalka.com
david_dalka4gsb@yahoo.com
Larry Dribin, Ph.D.
Principal
Pearl Street Group
larry@dribin.org
Peter Moffit
Motsuka Design Solutions
peter.moffit@gmail.com
Jane E. Belcher, CFA
jbelcher@chicagobooth.edu
Mike Nelson
Senior Vice President
Engineering
Nanoink
www.nanoink.net
mnelson@nanoink.net
Angela Librizzi, CIMA
Vice President, Regional Director
Investment Management Division
Goldman Sachs
angela.librizzi@gs.com
Bryce B. Bulman
Senior Vice President
Allianz Global Investors
www.allianzinvestors.com
bryce.bulman@allianzinvestors.com
Scott Lindsay
Internal
Alliaz Global Investors
www.allianzinvestors.com
scott.lindsay@allianzinvestors.com
Adolfo L. Laurenti
Deputy Chief Economist and Managing Director
Office of the Chairman, Economic Analysis
Mesirow Financial
alaurenti@mesirowfinancial.com
_________________________________________
END OF REPORT |
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