It gives me great pleasure to announce that AGORACOM recorded 10,514,612 page views for the period February 25 – March 26. This is our biggest month since we announced the launch of our wiki-powered “Investor Controlled Discussion Forums” on October 11, 2007.
When we made first made the announcement, we set out to destroy the stock discussion forum status quo that we have all come to hate over the past 10 years thanks to unrelenting spam, profanity, stock bashing, stock hyping and assorted noise. Many thought it could not be done because we could neither change habits nor unseat the incumbents. We not only knew we could, we knew that we would. Now, more than lip service, the following numbers speak for themselves:
THE TALE OF THE TAPE
(Figures for February 25 – March 26, 2008. All figures reported by Google Analytics)
- Page Views 10,514,612
- Visits 711,385
- Unique Visitors 133,641
- Pages Per Visit 14.78
- Avg Time On Site 10:48
- Number Of Countries/Territories 161
- Top 10 (Canada, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Sweden, Mexico, Austria, Switzerland)
The numbers look even better when you consider:
- The middle of March is pretty much a write-off for financial discussion as parents go on vacation or spend more time with their kids.
- The numbers stem from pure discussion. No spam, flaming and bickering traffic.
HAPPY TO SEE A HAPPY COMMUNITY
We are very happy to see the data back up our theory that investors deeply desire the ability to amalgamate and discuss individual stock investments in a civilized community.
However, we are even happier to read the reaction of our members. Here are just some of the raving testimonials we’ve been able to pull from the site so far.
While we’re talking about our members, I want to take this moment to thank each and every one of them for believing in our model, spreading the word and breathing life into it. Without them, this would be one hell of an application with no users. A special thanks goes out to all HUB Leaders that abandoned their former communities at Stockhouse, Raging Bull, Yahoo Finance and others in hopes of a better experience. I’m glad our promises to you have been fulfilled.
STATUS QUO ISN’T SHAKING – YET
Now, I know we haven’t shaken any boots at the big 3 (AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft) just yet but the numbers and testimonials clearly show we have tabled a solution that is far more appealing to investors that are no longer willing to accept the unacceptable.
Until now, the trash has ruled the day, forcing the masses to abandon discussion forums and conduct due diligence either on their own, or in small groups. It is inefficient but it is the best option we’ve had for nearly a decade.
Eventually, the market corrects inefficiencies and AGORACOM has set its sights on correcting this one.
By refusing to sacrifice quality for quantity, AGORACOM is attracting and will continue to attract smart and conscientious investors that understand the wisdom of crowds. Eventually, quality begets quality and a massive community that both generates its own content and moderates itself will replace the status quo.
BLOGS CAN NOT REPLACE DISCUSSION FORUMS
With the advent of financial blogs – and some pretty great ones that include Paul Kedrosky, Roger Ehrenberg, Barry Ritholtz and Mark McQueen to name but a few – some might argue discussion forums are no longer necessary, even outdated. Don’t make that mistake. Blogs are great for insight into the most important economic issues from a wide array of great minds. However, they rarely stay focused on a particular topic for more than a week, if not a day.
Stock discussion forums, on the other hand, provide investors with an ability to exchange ideas and analyze one particular stock 24/7/365. You might read about macro events (i.e. sub-prime) on a blog but figuring out the ongoing impact on your specific stock investments requires an extended micro discussion that blogs can not provide.
CONCLUSION
This is Wiki meets IGC (investor generated content) at its finest. There are bigger communities to be sure – but can you find another vertical in which the need for a drastically more efficient model is more needed? Trillions of dollars are at stake. People’s futures are at stake. We can DIGG for this and Wikipedia that – but what are their implications for inefficient or imperfect information?
Stock discussion forums are vital to the lives of so many people. I believe we are about to witness a paradigm shift that makes them valuable once again. Stay tuned for more.
Regards,
George