Meta-Statistics

Per our recent work at the Sponge, I've been thinking a lot about meta-statistics, and goals/metrics that are buried beneath one level of complexity. For example, one metric for advertising that we collect at Spongecell for our advertising partners is impressions - the rawest statistic you can get. One step below that - given an impression - we also track interactions. One step below that - given an interaction and an impression - we also track completed interactions, such as how many times someone added the event to their personal calendar. One step below that - given an interaction, an impression, and a calendar add - we track how many used a particular service, such as Google Calendar. What is most interesting to me is one step even further; given an interaction, an impression, and an add to Google Calendar, how many actually showed up? How many invited a friend, ... Read more