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Analytics are business intelligence. Showing which of your content works well and which doesn’t. The idea that there should be no issue sharing them is absurd.

Analytics are business intelligence. Showing which of your content works well and which doesn’t. The idea that there should be no issue sharing them is absurd. Yeah just publish the minutes from your marketing strategy meetings as well while you’re at it. Invite your competitors to go over your books with you and your accountant and then arrange meet and greets with your most profitable customers as dessert.

slimsag 6y ago
Sure, in the same way that code is intellectual property and should never be shared, and all ideas should all be patented in case they become worth something. In all seriousness, I'm OK with that as long as people are honest about it. Just say "We track our users to collect business intelligence." and I'm happy.
- varenc 6y ago
  The point is that even analytics that are 100% anonymous and aggregated, with no privacy concerns, are still pieces of business intelligence.
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  We all would love to know what Google page ranking algorithm is. Disclosing any business information whether it is in the form of code, analytics, financial information, customer data, etc. sometimes makes sense but more than often, doesn't.
  - dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
    > Disclosing any business information whether it is in the form of code, analytics, financial information, customer data, etc. sometimes makes sense but more than often, doesn't. While I agree with the spirit of your comment, this is a very sweeping generalization. Many kinds of financial information are being shared regularly with the public and for publicly traded companies they're required by law. Many companies build their infrastructure on open source software, with proprietary glue being a small percent. Knowing what you can or even should share (for marketing purposes) is crucial. Especially knowing that keeping information asymmetry forever is impossible.
    - systemvoltage 6y ago
      > Many companies build their infrastructure on open source software, with proprietary glue being a small percent. This too is a sweeping generalization ;), a good one though. We're pretty fortunate to have a lot of our building blocks made using open source software. Boost libraries to openssl, most of the stack is open source including the programming language. Although, the proprietary glue is the important bit. An architect's work is more than just bricks and mortar.
themoose8 6y ago
This is a good point and I agree for most businesses, you wouldn't want to publish your bi. But slimsag makes an interesting & valid point: that if you are confident enough in the privacy policy of your analytics, you should be able post it publicly without alteration.
- joycian 6y ago
  Well even if you know that nobody can be identified from your data alone, if everyone releases data, it will become easier and easier to cross-reference and still identify people.
  - faeyanpiraat 6y ago
    How would you identify anyone by a delayed visitor number on articles?
    - joycian 6y ago
      If it's only that it would be pretty hard. Aggregated data would (probably?) be relatively safe.
aflag 6y ago
I am not disagreeing with you, but imagine if all business were completely open about all those things. Yeah, maybe your particular business would fail, but the net result would be the truly most effective business to succeed. Which would be an overall win for society. It would also mean that small players would have more of a chance, because they'd be able to build on big players failures/successes more easily. I suppose counter argument would be that it would inhibit people from taking risks, because the gains would be shared, while the failures would not.
- laumars 6y ago
  Big businesses will just find ways to circumvent it like starting meeting with a copyrighted poem and arguing that minutes can’t be shared on copyright grounds (or similarly absurd loopholes) which smaller businesses wouldn’t think of doing. Thus big businesses end up getting a greater competitive edge. Basically whatever process you put in place to level the playing field, big businesses will find a way to game it to their advantage because they have the resources to do so and the deep pockets that allow them to take risks.
- aardvarkr 6y ago
  I’d actually argue that this would have detrimental effects. What’s stopping a company from visiting your site, seeing what’s popular, and stealing it all for themselves?
  - aflag 6y ago
    What do you mean by stealing? Other companies could offer the same products you offer already. If they know what people want they will spend resources trying to optimise things based on data, instead of guessing. Some other company may find a better/more efficient way to offer the popular products, which is better for everyone. It's a way to level the playing field. The idea is that, if everyone has access to all the data, then there's more opportunity to make all business more efficient, whereas if some businesses hold information about the market and costumers for themselves, then they get to be sloppier in their implementation because they are already so far in the game.

slimsag 6y ago

Sure, in the same way that code is intellectual property and should never be shared, and all ideas should all be patented in case they become worth something. In all seriousness, I'm OK with that as long as people are honest about it. Just say "We track our users to collect business intelligence." and I'm happy.

varenc 6y ago
The point is that even analytics that are 100% anonymous and aggregated, with no privacy concerns, are still pieces of business intelligence.
systemvoltage 6y ago
We all would love to know what Google page ranking algorithm is. Disclosing any business information whether it is in the form of code, analytics, financial information, customer data, etc. sometimes makes sense but more than often, doesn't.
- dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
  > Disclosing any business information whether it is in the form of code, analytics, financial information, customer data, etc. sometimes makes sense but more than often, doesn't. While I agree with the spirit of your comment, this is a very sweeping generalization. Many kinds of financial information are being shared regularly with the public and for publicly traded companies they're required by law. Many companies build their infrastructure on open source software, with proprietary glue being a small percent. Knowing what you can or even should share (for marketing purposes) is crucial. Especially knowing that keeping information asymmetry forever is impossible.
  - systemvoltage 6y ago
    > Many companies build their infrastructure on open source software, with proprietary glue being a small percent. This too is a sweeping generalization ;), a good one though. We're pretty fortunate to have a lot of our building blocks made using open source software. Boost libraries to openssl, most of the stack is open source including the programming language. Although, the proprietary glue is the important bit. An architect's work is more than just bricks and mortar.

themoose8 6y ago

This is a good point and I agree for most businesses, you wouldn't want to publish your bi. But slimsag makes an interesting & valid point: that if you are confident enough in the privacy policy of your analytics, you should be able post it publicly without alteration.

joycian 6y ago
Well even if you know that nobody can be identified from your data alone, if everyone releases data, it will become easier and easier to cross-reference and still identify people.
- faeyanpiraat 6y ago
  How would you identify anyone by a delayed visitor number on articles?
  - joycian 6y ago
    If it's only that it would be pretty hard. Aggregated data would (probably?) be relatively safe.

aflag 6y ago

I am not disagreeing with you, but imagine if all business were completely open about all those things. Yeah, maybe your particular business would fail, but the net result would be the truly most effective business to succeed. Which would be an overall win for society. It would also mean that small players would have more of a chance, because they'd be able to build on big players failures/successes more easily. I suppose counter argument would be that it would inhibit people from taking risks, because the gains would be shared, while the failures would not.

laumars 6y ago
Big businesses will just find ways to circumvent it like starting meeting with a copyrighted poem and arguing that minutes can’t be shared on copyright grounds (or similarly absurd loopholes) which smaller businesses wouldn’t think of doing. Thus big businesses end up getting a greater competitive edge. Basically whatever process you put in place to level the playing field, big businesses will find a way to game it to their advantage because they have the resources to do so and the deep pockets that allow them to take risks.
aardvarkr 6y ago
I’d actually argue that this would have detrimental effects. What’s stopping a company from visiting your site, seeing what’s popular, and stealing it all for themselves?
- aflag 6y ago
  What do you mean by stealing? Other companies could offer the same products you offer already. If they know what people want they will spend resources trying to optimise things based on data, instead of guessing. Some other company may find a better/more efficient way to offer the popular products, which is better for everyone. It's a way to level the playing field. The idea is that, if everyone has access to all the data, then there's more opportunity to make all business more efficient, whereas if some businesses hold information about the market and costumers for themselves, then they get to be sloppier in their implementation because they are already so far in the game.