The Internet is a powerful force in today's world. Just as powerful is the emergence of web logs or blogs. Blogs can range from a personal diary to a focused discussion on a narrow topic. Because blogs are simple to set up and use, they have become quite prolific. Eventually, there will be as many blogs on the Internet as there are Starbucks cafés.
Success in the blogosphere is measured by the number of unique visitors. These visits, sometimes called 'hits', usually correspond to the quality of the blog's content or the amount of interest in a particular post. However, as with all rules, there is the exception. Enter Instapundit, a.k.a. Glenn Reynolds (blenderous puppious).
Instapundit is one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. However, the number of hits doesn't seem to be tied to insightful commentary or late breaking developments. Rather, it would appear that the blog's popularity is tied to key phrases added to the end of practically every post. These phrases, called heh-metrics, can consist of anywhere between one and four words: Heh, Indeed, Update (also More Here:), and Read the Whole Thing. The study of hehmetrical impact on blog popularity is called Indeedeology.
In response to massive governmental and economical pressure, I have decided to explore the field of Indeedeology to monitor the hemetrical statistics of Instapundit. It is hoped that by judicial usage of hehmetrics, all blog writers will be able to increase their traffic ten fold. However, before hehmetrics can be successfully applied, we must study them in their natural habitat to determine the best usage. It is theorized that over usage of hehmetrics can lead to a phenomenon knows as boringus copycatus.
In order to facilitate this study, I have created the Glenndex. The Glenndex monitors hehmetrics by sampling the number of Hehs, Indeeds, Updates, and Read the Whole Things listed on Instapundit. Because of the statistical nature of hehmetrics, there will be several Glenndexes needed to accurately portray hemetrical roles in hit counts.
The Rolling Glenndex - This Glenndex monitors current hehmetrical counts on the front page of Instapundit. As new posts emerge, older posts are removed from the main page. The Rolling Glenndex is a fairly accurate indicator of current hehmetrical activity. The Rolling Glenndex does not take into consideration historical hehmetrical data. The Rolling Index will be prominently displayed in the right hand column.
Historical Glenndex - While the Rolling Glenndex accurately forcasts the current hehmetrical climate, a look at the historical data will provide a better understanding of exactly how using hehmetrics will increase blog readership. This type of statistical analysis is complex and expensive, both in time and financial resources. Due to several factors including governmental red tape in securing a federal grant and the fact that I am lazy, this index will not be available until mid 2017.
rolled out on
Wednesday, October 20, 2004 10:33 PM