Four Web Sites Control Half of Surfing Time

[Hunter]

America Online, Yahoo! Microsoft and Napster now account for more than half of all the time spent online by U.S. surfers...

Jupiter Media Metrix [dailynews.yahoo.com]

[mivox]

I wonder if AOL time should be counted, if the users never actually make it out of AOL-Land and onto the real WWW?

[Hunter]

Good point mivox...hmmm, well I wanted to say somthing positive about AOL...I just can't seem to think of anything...

[Eric_Jarvis]

it's a short name, they could have a four or five letter acronym which would take longer to type

and the free coasters they send me are rather useful...they also make OK pizza cutters

[mivox]

I've heard you can hang the CDs in fruit trees, to help protect against birds eating all the fruit... (maybe they don't like bright shiny objects?) The pizza cutter idea is good though, I'll have to try it.

[Mike_Mackin]

I have a question.
If you join AOL, do they stop sending them?

[mivox]

AOL was the first online service I used. I joined up on their free trial offer, just long enough to download a regular browser and sign up with a local ISP... I cancelled my AOL account two weeks after I started it.

<aside>It was bizarrely difficult to find a Netscape download... I kept getting error messages saying I wasn't allowed to access the download pages. Like AOL had it's competitors' dowload sites blocked, or something. I finally found a Netscape download through some strange .edu site back alley directory page...</aside>

The frequency of CD mailings is still much lower today (3.5 years later) than it was before I signed up. I guess they gave up on me. I got a few "come back to AOL" mailers, and then... it's like I dropped off the face of the earth. :)

[Hunter]

C'mon you guy's...the CD's looked great on my fake Christmas tree last christmas. There was a certain holistic unity
created...

[bigjohnt]

>I have a question.
If you join AOL, do they stop sending them?

Yes, they do. I keep an account <"bring your own access" is about 9.95 a month> I use it for backup for when my main connection goes down. Its also helpful to see what 35% of the online market sees on a daily basis. I also use a couple of mailboxes there for catching and dumping confirms and spam from spamnable submissions.(You can open and close a screenname at the drop of a hat, just like a "real" site!)

I agree, its not the "real" web, but even the WWWpurists must admit, it is a little silly to ignore 35% of the market, especially, when SOOO many people start and end at AOL.
I forget where the statistic was, but someone <I know, I know, statistics, damned statistics, etc..> said that AOLers spend more and are an easier sell.