Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead.

Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by citricsquid on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:23PM (#2173255)

Didn't they see how it didn't work too well for DDG? It ended with (last I saw) many people criticising their "attack" and even Matt Cutts getting involved, it seems strange they'd do this after that... assuming "the ‘war’ they have declared on Google" is accurate. Also I suspect a billboard advertisement for something with such a small user base (vs. the average person who will see this) won't convert much so they're banking on "social media" coverage?

Mixpanel is neat though.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by arst on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @10:03PM (#2173361)

While HN's reaction to DDG's 'war on Google' has been mixed, their search traffic doubled in January (according to Gabriel's newsletter, not sure if there's a linkable source on this), so I'm not prepared to consider the strategy a failure.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by reitzensteinm on Thursday February 03, 2011 @07:05AM (#2174431)

They publish traffic numbers here: http://duckduckgo.com/traffic.html

Unfortunately it just ticked over on the month, so there's not much history there. For reference in the current numbers, I've been watching it for about 6 months if memory serves, and before the banner went up, it only broke 100k once. It's been getting 200k+ since the banner went up. So somewhere between double and triple the queries.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by aberman on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:26PM (#2173273)

> Also I suspect a billboard advertisement for something with such a small user base (vs. the average person who will see this)...

Probably true for most billboards, but the 101 on the peninsula might be the one place in the world it makes sense (box.net has some great ads; AOL and Zynga have ads looking for job applicants)

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by benologist on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:25PM (#2173268)

The billboard's not focusing on Google, just the concept of pageviews.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by citricsquid on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:27PM (#2173274)

I didn't mean the billboard specifically, but the claim that they're waging a "war on google". DDGs thingy was more than just a billboard.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by tzs on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @10:09PM (#2173376)

Well, DDG's argument was essentially that they offer the same service as Google, but without certain risks. Both services give you the same thing--search results.

Mixpanel's argument is that you don't need the service Google and others offer (page view stats)--you need a different service, and Mixpanel offers that.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by zitterbewegung on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:25PM (#2173269)

Whether or not people criticize the attack is any publicity better than nothing? They may take a hit but I think Mixpanel has a bigger problem of being obscure versus the possible backlash. On the other hand this could all blow up in their faces and then they are screwed. Now I either recall what Mixpanel does or I now know what their purpose is.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by Skywing on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:24PM (#2173262)

I think the approach here is perfectly acceptable. The billboard makes a statement and provides a solution. Nothing wrong here.

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Re:Mixpanel buys a billboard, declares page views are dead. by vaksel on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @09:47PM (#2173320)

think of it as the ultimate link bait

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