Reviews
“Everyone from marketing managers who want to know how much power social networking sites wield in the online market to political pollsters trying to decipher the disconnect between exit polls and election results would be advised to heed his research. Witty and invaluable in its insights, this book is destined to become a primer for online marketers and usability experts while shedding new light on the mindset and curiosities of the average Web surfer, i.e., your friends and neighbors.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“Another juicy comparison: Bill Tancer’s CLICK: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why It Matters (Hyperion, Sept.) is said to be the new Tipping Point.”
—Library Journal
“Tancer brings humor, clarity, and insight to the treads that are revealed by the ways we seek out and consume information on the Internet.”
—Booklist
“Bill Tancer loves data, and he’s not ashamed to say so. The Time.com columnist and manager of global research at Hitwise, a competitive intelligence company, is passionate about his work: he monitors and analyzes online behavior in search of clues, trends and patterns that can help companies understand their customers. Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters (Hyperion, $25.95, 240 pages, ISBN 9781401323042) has real-life examples aplenty drawn from Tancer’s work at Hitwise, plus anecdotes that detail his experiences as a speaker and/or attendee at various conferences and trade shows, where he encounters all manner of data aficionados. He offers interesting, odd statistics (more than 20 percent of all inbox spam is related to Viagra; online searches for “prom dress” peak in January, contrary to the April or May surge one would expect) and shares the details of his questions to understand these phenomena. Tancer believes “we can learn more about ourselves through our Internet behavior,” and is enthusiasm for data-modeling is infectious. (Really.) Here’s a bit of data-modeling: readers who liked Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point will enjoy this book, too.”
—Bookpage
“In an earlier era, the author would have been a pollster. Now, as the general manager of global research at Hitwise, an online intelligence firm, he sifts through a database that reveals what more than 10 million Internet users do every day. With this digital treasure trove, Tancer (who is also a columnist for Time.com) can aid traders by gauging the market’s direction on specific issues, as well as answer pressing questions such as which day of the week is most popular for porn websites (Friday).”
—Time
“Ever wonder what all of us millions are doing on the Internet, aside from spending money and wasting time? Bill Tancer, who is “the king of measuring online research,” has made a living of it. He not only reveals what we’re searching for online (how to tie a tie beats out how to have sex, go figure) but why it should matter to us in Click (Hyperion, $25.95, out Tuesday).
—San Antonio Express-News
“Using search-engine data from 10 million surfers, Tancer shares information about our aspirations, insecurities, and curious diversions. (Three of the top 10 “how to” searches: how to tie a tie, how to have sex, how to levitate. “How to” queries make up 3 percent of all searches, by the way.) We want to be healthy and look good, but Tancer’s data show that we’re often looking for a quick fix to our problems. (Searches to help “stop smoking” are often tied to pharmaceutical keywords.) With personal anecdotes and a dose of humor, Tancer shows how much we can learn from a billion little mouse clicks.”
—Psychology Today
“Search engines provide objective information—and lots of it. Finding out how people search can lead to big dividends for your company.”
—Go, Air Tran In-Flight magazine