Yakiji (Yah-key-jee)

Google launched a new microsite today called “Google Internet Stats” in their UK division. It provides bite-sized stats organized into 5 different categories – Macro Economic Trends, Technology, Consumer Trends, Media Consumption, and Media Landscape. The stats come from well known sources ranging from BusinessWeek to Nielson to YouTube. While these sources have clearly earned their stature in providing these facts and stats, Google has opened up the opportunity for users to submit relevant facts and stats as well. This looks like it could be a neat initiative and I took it for a spin.

Pros:

• Clean, bite-sized stats and facts.
• Organized nicely by categories.
• A lot of potential for growth.

Cons:

• User interface is a little constrictive.
• Focused on collecting Internet stats for the UK. What about the US?
• Needs to be populated with more facts and stats.

Overall, this is an interesting step for Google to take and it still has a “beta” feel to it, which could potentially mean that it’s a precursor for something bigger yet to come.