Information Overload

This isn't in the slightest bit book, or feminism, related.

I added a new stats tracker to the blog yesterday and now I know a freakish amount about all of you. There are a few regular readers who I can put my finger on thanks to knowing where they work/how they mispell my blog name/they keep landing on a random old post from last year, etc. But now I can see all sorts of graphs about how many pages people read, which search engine they used, their search terms, even whether they have java enabled or not.

On the one hand, this is all really fascinating. There is an inherent nosiness in me that is satisfied by being able to see who is reading the blog, and it's always gratifying to see the stats climb. On the other hand, this all means that other people can see the same information about me, and that freaks me out slightly. I know that all sorts of people and companies store all sorts of information about everyone on various databases and god knows what - I'm sure the good people of Nectar have a pretty good idea of my lifestyle from what I buy at Sainsburys. For instance, they could easily work out that I have cats, that I have an alarming cheese addiction, that I'm now living with a vegetarian from the amount of Quorn we're suddenly buying, and that I am developing a bit of a dependency on parma ham. They probably also think I have a cider problem because every so often we buy a plastic bottle of Strongbow. What they don't know is that sometimes I drink cider out of a champagne flute for my own amusement, but enough about my bizarre foibles.

Anyway, what I'm saying is that I'm an information hypocrite. I like being nosy about other people, but it scares me that people know so much about me. But I write a blog , there are therefore elements of my life that I'm happy to share with whoever reads this, and I have a facebook profile (though with the very strictest security settings). What I mean is that people can see where I work, my computer's specs, what pages I read and for how long. Weird.

Hmm. This has turned into a bit of an odd ramble. I shall stop. Anyway, my eyes hurt. I have hayfever, and my eyes are all puffed up, and people keep asking if I've been crying. I haven't. Pollen hates me.

Comments

[dovegreyreader]

These all spook me too Kirsty and I've stopped using anything other than the basic stats on typepad now. Obviously I can't control what others know about me but I felt very uncomfortable with all the information I had access to on others. The Feedjit map felt like one of the most invasive and I only kept that on the blog for about 30 minutes!It' s a bit like working in a GP surgery and having access to everyone's notes (which I do) people think you read them all day long (which I don't). There is nothing worse than finding out something confidential about someone you know which you then wish you didn't know.