Hey there D. B.,

Many thanks for your comments. I appreciate hearing from folks that have given the question some consideration.

“I disagree that volume of followers is much of a measure, of anything.”

I guess, the thought that I’m left with when thinking about what to measure is: How is this measurement any different than the others that are commonly used online, e.g.: number of RSS subscribers, number of e-mail list subscribers, number of “Friends,” number of page views, and so on?

Each of these metrics also require very little commitment, other than clicking a button, providing an e-mail address, or typing in a URL.

If that’s the case, then traditional publishers are swimming in a sea of meaningless metrics when it comes to looking at their online “reach,” “engagement,” and so on.

In the interest of fleshing out what is a really interesting topic, let me ask this question: What do you, as an online-only publisher, use as metrics to measure audience and engagement? And what advice would you offer to traditional publications who are struggling with the same question around their online operations?

Many thanks in advance for pushing these questions forward. :-)

Phillip.