Surfing Conditions
One constant I have always noticed in the visitor stats for this site: readership numbers drop by more than half on weekends and holidays. Which brings me to wonder why: are people simply out of the house more on these days? It seems unlikely that this would be the case, as they are at home in the mornings and evenings and could surf then. It would account for some drop-off, but not so much–in fact, if surfing is done at home, one would assume that it would rise when people are at home more.
What seems more likely is that a large number of people surf the web at their jobs. That would make perfect sense–the drop-off happens when people don’t have access to the web. Either they don’t have access to computers and the web at home, or they just spend a lot of time at work goofing off. Interesting.
Um… but not you, of course.
Oh I never surf at work *whistles*
I’ve noticed the same on the stats for all my websites. This weekend in particular has been REALLY sad.
My site, same thing. Reader hits drop off during the weekends. Lately I’ve been a flake about posting, though, so that has something to do with it. Luis, on the other hand, posts daily, so there’s never an excuse to not check in.
Paul
Seattle, WA
I don’t think people are goofing off so much as filling their down time with one of the activities they are allowed to partake in without getting in trouble. I used to have considerable down time at my previous job at times and did surfing then (or posted on newsgroups). My boss was fully aware of what I did and he didn’t care because he knew I wasn’t busy.
I think a lot of office workers have a similar situation. It’s inevitable that there are times when you have nothing to do and you can’t exactly go for a walk, knit a sweater, or even read a book (unless it’s on-line). Most employers don’t disapprove of their employees surfing when they have nothing to do as long as the sites they visit aren’t inappropriate.
Surfing the web at work… and they wonder why all all these jobs get outsourced abroad!
Guilty as charged.