Book review: The Numerati

The Numerati by Stephen Baker
Anyone who’s heavy into online marketing knows that numbers and analysis rule the world. Even before I ever got started in PPC ad SEO, I was a data freak who always wanted more information to add to the stack, convinced that I was going to be able to ferret out some deeper meaning. I’ve always hated math, but directly applicable analysis always gets me going. From time to time it actually worked, and I thought I had really figured something out.

Now I see that I am just a tiny baby boy in trainers compared to the actual data freaks.

The Numerati is a series of interviews and discussions with individuals from several different areas who are harnessing personal data in order to achieve results in their given area: Business operations (personnel specifically), medicine, security, politics, shopping and dating. The first chapter of the book, which goes into depth on what IBM actually does nowadays, is worth the price of admission on its own. If anyone has access to the e-mail analyzing software that’s described in this chapter I’d love to take a spin on it or hear about the kinds of things you can spot with it…

While the book desperately tries to create buzzwords (i.e. constantly refers to the analysts as ‘the numerati’) and leaves you craving more information in many cases, it’s still enough to whet your appetite and see what place information – including the information your site collects every day – has and will have in our day-to-day lives. Really makes you want to peel away from the basic ROI stats that are your primary focus and see what there is to see a little further down the rabbit hole.

This review will be added to the Book Reviews section under online marketing.

Mom says there are no posts that are like me. I am unique.

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