Blink: Malcolm Gladwell - thoughts on web analytics

I love, really love, web analytics. I live and breath it. In fact, I show some signs of being addicted to learning more about the why’s of web user patterns, deeper, more more. Why upon why upon why.

So I was totally absorbed by Malcom Gladwell’s latest book, Blink. I finished it in a single day. I’m not here to write a review - but let me say the book has really made a difference.

In this book, Gladwell discusses at length, and with great skill, the power of rapid cognition. Thinking without thinking, he calls it. Gut reactions. First impressions. Stuff like that. He also talks about the dangers of getting too much information when only a bit will do.

I think that in the web marketing world, we must think hard about some of his lessons. While I’m tempted to peel apart every layer of analytics put out by the tools, I am going to be careful. My gut reaction to a web business idea is almost always right - and that is what I’m selling. I’m not selling data - I’m selling the skill of knowing.

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