Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10933)	7/20/1998 7:01:00 PM
From: EliBenTedrus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

7/20/98 AMZN TANKWATCH ********************** ^ ,:',:',:' __\|\|_\|\|_\|\|_\|\|_\|\|__ ^ ^ ____[""""""""""""""""""]____ July \ " ''AMZNic'''''''''''''' \ ^~^~^^ 23, 1998 ~^~^~^~^~~^~^~~^~^~^^~~^~~~~^~^~^^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~~^~^~^^~~^~^~^ ~ Earnings ~ ~ ~ ~ Announcement ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ============ ~ ~ ~ ~ /, ~ Close 7/20/98 For Last Reported Year ~ <')=< ~ TICK MARKET CAP REVENUE NET INCOME EPS URL \' ~ ==== ============== ======= ========== ==== === AMZN $6,799,650,000 $ 147M $(27.59)M (0.64) amazon.com ~ ~ BKS $3,139,178,000 $2,796M $53.16M 0.79 barnesandnoble.com BGP $2,888,219,250 $2,266M $80.19M 1.06 borders.com ~ KTEL $86,905,000 $ 75M $ 3.2M 0.41 ktel.com ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Using an ingenious system of sixteen water-tight compartments in her hull and more lifeboats than current laws required, she was indeed a marvel to behold. In fact, a journalist even remarked that 'Not even God himself could sink this ship.' This message from the Baltic was immediately given to Captain Smith who, instead of giving it to the officers on watch, carried it with him. Captain Smith encountered Bruce Ismay (managing director of the White Star line) as he walked aft along the promenade. According to Ismay's testimony in a later hearing regarding the loss of the Titanic, the Captain handed him the message without comment. Ismay briefly glanced at the message and then put it in his pocket.

To: llamaphlegm who wrote (10933)	7/21/1998 1:37:00 AM
From: umbro	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

INTERNET HITS & MISSES Measures of Advertising Effectiveness Lack Accuracy [Marshall School of Business, USC] marshall.usc.edu [my note: alternative title - Big Brother really is watching ] Advertisers beware! Companies advertising on the World Wide Web currently have no accurate way of measuring who, or even how many people, see their ads, a University of Southern California study shows. Researchers at USC's Marshall School of Business have found that today's methods for determining the number of "hits" an Internet ad receives can be wildly inaccurate. The researchers studied thousands of hits on five major websites (news, education and entertainment sites and two information databases) and tabulated those hits on the basis of Internet protocol addresses alone. They then tabulated the hits more accurately by imposing mandatory log-ins and other identification methods on the same visitors to the sites -- measures that most websites are reluctant to use for fear of alienating their visitors. The resulting disparities were striking. Using Internet protocol addresses alone as a means of identifying website hits led to a 39% underestimation of visits, a 64% overestimation of the number of pages seen by each visitor and a 79% overestimation of the time spent on each visit, the researchers report in "Is Internet Advertising Ready for Prime Time?" -- an article appearing in the current issue of the Journal of Advertising Research. "Accurate methods of measuring effectiveness must be devised if the web is to compete as an advertising medium," says study co-author Fred S. Zufryden, Ph.D., holder of the Marshall School's Ernest Hahn Term Professorship in Marketing. "Measurement will become increasingly critical as more mass-market advertisers join the medium." Many companies have been experimenting with using the web as an advertising medium. Web advertising revenues tripled in 1997, reaching $1 billion mark for the first time. Still, Internet buys are just a fraction of total ad spending, Dr. Zufryden notes. "While print and broadcast media have long-established standards of advertising effectiveness, such variables as reach, frequency, and gross rating points are difficult to measure on the Internet," says Zufryden, an expert in the analysis of consumer purchase behavior and market response. One problem is that users often lack unique on-line identities. One person can have multiple web addresses. On the other hand, Internet providers, such as America Online, give a single address for multiple users. So when marketers try to measure user requests, or "hits," for a particular web page, they can't tell whether one person requests the page five times or five people request it once. In addition, caching prevents market researchers from measuring how often a web page is seen during a user session. Once a surfer clicks on a page, his (or her) computer temporarily stores the page for the duration of the session, in case he wants to see it again. This caching feature prevents researchers from knowing how many times a user is exposed to the ad. Zufryden says greater accuracy can be achieved: -- Repeat visitors to a website ad can be uniquely identified by "cookies" -- identifying pieces of information sent to, and stored on, each visitor's computer. -- Visitors can be identified through password systems. -- Partial or complete elimination of caching would enable advertisers to follow a visitor's path on a website and track the number of exposures to an ad. "Web users sometimes resist these measures, but consumer objections can be overcome with proper marketing," says study co-author Xavier Dreze, an assistant professor of marketing at the USC business school. "What users lose in privacy could be balanced by free information and other rewards once they access the website. Surfers always want privacy until it costs them. If it's cheaper to give information, they will go along." The rewards would be comparable to the benefits (discounts and free merchandise) a consumer gains from using a frequent-shopper card at the supermarket or gas station. "If we can offer similar benefits on the Internet," says Dr. Dreze, "consumers will accept it." Paul Grand, chairman of Word of Net, a public relations firm that promotes websites, co-authored the journal article with Drs. Zufryden and Dreze. The firm donated data for the study. For more information, please call Diana Lundin, Media Representitive, at 213.740.0188