ANALYSIS OF ONLINE USER DATA WITH SURPRISING RESULTS
Peter Schneckenleitner
Prof. (FH) Dr., University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tyrol, AUSTRIA, peter.schneckenleitner@fh-kufstein.ac.at
Abstract
In this scientific paper the differences of the use between mobile applications (“apps”) and internet-based online portals (“browser“) were examined. The analysis object was an Austrian news portal, which in October 2015, in addition to the classic online portal, offered its users a mobile app. This study analyzed the access and usage data of the news portal in a first step with Google Analytics and thus drew comparisons between "classic" usage processes via Internet browsers and accesses via "Apps". In a second research step, a user survey with almost 400 participants was carried out. It was measured how users perceive the use of media content via mobile applications and whether there are differences to the evaluated online statistics.
We saw that the users stayed on the app almost twice as long on the website than when accessing the browser. When compared to page calls, apps are obviously a disadvantage, in contrast to web browsers. While the app users call an average of 1.12 articles per usage, there were 1.79 item calls per usage for accesses via the mobile / tablet / desktop browser.
The additional online survey among users of the news portal was able to evaluate almost 400 valid questionnaires. One of our surprising results showed that users are obviously not aware of the longer dwell time in apps. While the statistics clearly proved that content is viewed in apps for a longer period of time, the user appears to be different and does not feel any difference here. And another result was astonishing: The users have the impression that they read more articles in apps than on the website. while our data proved that more articles are read when accessing the desktop.
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