Indeed, what does the future of web analytics hold? The smartest man I know posed that question to me at SEMphonic X Change last year in Napa Valley, asking honestly and earnestly as if I would certainly know the answer to his question. And trust me, when Joseph Carrabis asks you a question like that, you want to have a great answer!

Alas, I am human, and so I believe I said, “Hmmmm, what do you think?” knowing that Joseph is rarely at a loss for words. Ironically, he thought the same thing about me, but neither of us had a particularly excellent answer for this seemingly harmless question!

“What do you think will happen?” is among the most basic of questions, but as soon as you’re asked to voice your opinion for the record you immediately realize that there are ramifications whether you’re right or you’re wrong. If you’re right, people might think you had some type of inside information. If you’re wrong, people might think you’re losing your edge. And either way the answer has the potential to influence outcomes, especially if you’re widely read.

So I hedged my bets and we made a deal. Joseph and I agreed that we would get over our fear of being right or wrong, let it all hang out there, and talk about where the web analytics market is going. But upon reflection we realized that our voices are hardly the definitive word, and our opinions are inevitably limited by our experiences and our particular biases.

Fortunately “Web 2.0″ provides the solution: we created an open blog so the entire community can respectfully debate what they future might hold. In “The Future of Web Analytics, Demystified” we invite any-and-all to contribute their thoughts and ideas to the “debate du jour”, eschewing the idea of “comments” and instead creating conversations.

Each conversation will start with a single author’s position and evolve from there. To start these conversations, Joseph and I will invite individual contributors to proffer up their Utopian views … then, as in any good Socratic debate, the rest of us will respectfully tear that person’s view to shreds, either ending up with consensus or a complete lack thereof effectively highlighting an area of audience measurement that “needs work.”

Sound like fun? Want to contribute? Have great prognostications of your own? Excellent, we’re excited that you’re excited!

GROUND RULES

There are a few basic ground rules we’d like everyone to agree to in advance. Nothing too crazy, but just something that will help set the tone and keep things civil:

1. First and foremost, RESPECT. Individual contributions are moderated and no commentary that attacks a person, place, or thing will be approved. Remember what your momma said about not being able to say something nice …
2. That’s not to say it isn’t okay to disagree. Joseph and I firmly believe that we can have a respectful discussion regarding the multiple sides of any issue without bringing the world down around us. It is okay to have a difference of opinion! And we believe that it is far better to voice dissent than keep it bottled up inside.
3. Go ahead, link to yourself. If you’re putting yourself out there, get something back. Link to your own blog, your own site, your own ideas. But we appreciate and encourage you to link back to this blog and help grow the conversation.
4. Remember, this will go on your permanent record. With all of the above in mind, remember that your contribution will be forever public and likely cited in the place you least expect. Take the time to think about your contribution before clicking the “Publish your Thoughts” button.

What do you think? Is this blog a good idea? We already have the Web Analytics Forum and dozens of well-written web analytics blogs. Will you contribute? If so, what is your motivation for contribution? And are you a little afraid of putting yourself out there? We welcome your comments.