Bing isn't taking over the internet yet, everyone calm down

Filed under: Internet, Analysis, Op-Ed

I keep seeing a sensational story from Mashable flash across my radars today: "Bing Now Bigger Than Digg, Twitter and CNN." Golly, I guess millions in TV advertising really can make you win in this crazy marketplace, huh? Not so fast, bucko. Google isn't going anywhere, and digg, Twitter and CNN folks are likely not sweating this any more than I am. Why?

First of all, let's consider the source. Compete.com is the "unwashed masses" product from Compete, Inc. Competitors of these guys include heavyweights like comScore, Nielsen/NetRatinga and Alexa. Granted, Compete was bought by research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres back in 2008, but their 2007 revenues weren't terrific. I'm not saying Compete's data is wrong, but I am saying that there's a little potential for self-serving headline grabbing here. I wonder what Compete's stats for today have been, eh? Well, according to their own site, Compete does better traffic than Alexa, and it looks like they get more than double Alexa's traffic. So maybe they're not so small, and maybe this is great. But Compete is just another 3rd party player here, so we can't be 100% on these metrics to begin with. Oh, and the kicker: these are US visitors only.

Now on to the data. How could Bing grab so many new users in so little time? Hmmm. Well, none of us bloggers have been able to shut up about it, but to be honest, not that many people listen to us. But it might be two other factors (call this a hunch):

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Bing isn't taking over the internet yet, everyone calm down originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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