"Based on internet averages, theonlinephotographer.com is visited more frequently by males who are in the age range 35–44, are graduate school educated and browse this site from home."
—Basic site demographics for The Online Photographer from Alexa.com
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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.
Featured Comment by HT: "Heh. I'm reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer visits a 'Guess Your Age and Weight' booth at a carnival. The operator's guess is '53 years old and 420 pounds' to which Homer replies, 'Ha, you lose! 36 and 239!' "
Question from James W.: "Do you know what percentage of your readers are in the U.S.?"
Mike replies: Here's the breakdown according to Google Analytics for the most recent 30 days, which should be fairly representative on this question even though they don't count/analyze all our visitors:
The large blue slice is the U.S., green is Canada, orange is the U.K., yellow is Australia. The next slices after that are Germany, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, and Spain. The gray area is "all other countries." GA says we had visitors from "185 countries/territories." To the question of how many countries there are in the world, about.com says "Ultimately, the best answer is that there are 195."
Featured Comment from MarcW: "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, BENE GESSERIT WITCH! (Srsly. 40 year old male, browse from home usually, graduate degree.)"
Featured Comment by Bill: "Not me: Male. 36. Master's Degree. Browsing the site from work. Take that, statistics!"
Featured Comment by Edie Howe: "51 years old, female, PhD in Applied Living from the University of Hard Knocks, visiting from my monastic cell in Yosemite National Park."
Featured Comment by Jack Martin: "Older and mostly visit from work...oops gotta go now."
Featured Comment by Chad Thompson: "Hello my name is Chad. I'm a TOP addict. I'm a 35-year-old autodidact who reads your site from work. But it is my company, so I'm only cheating myself."
Featured Comment by Avi: "I'm male, 24, visit daily from work, home or iphone while on transit. Makes me a young TOP addict?"
Mike replies: I've always considered that our shared interest in photography makes "us" into us, even if we're old or young, male or female, conservative or liberal, professional or amateur, famous or unknown, rich or poor, experienced or new to the field. That's why I make a policy of using first names here, even though we have among our readers doctors and professors, corporation presidents and judges, millionaires and writers, and a former Senator. I'm sure we have a great many differences between us. But that doesn't matter here. Here, because of our shared interest, we're equals and friends.
However, Avi, I hafta say, you are younger than my tripod! (It's 29 or 30.) But don't feel bad. There's a lot good about being young, and nothing bad about it that time won't eventually cure. :-)
Are the Alexa statistics based on US visitors only? Oh, and do you know what percentage of your readers are in the US?
Posted by: James W. | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 09:33 AM
It tells you something about the state of the economy when graduate school-educated males in their prime are at home, browsing internet :-((
Posted by: Slobodan Blagojevic | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:00 AM
I surely don't fit that profile, being an elderly female, although I do have a juris doctorate and usually browse from home.
Posted by: Pat Trent | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:07 AM
Pat,
"Elderly females" (and actually all elderly, and all females) are most welcome here as well, I assure you!
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:11 AM
What bothers me is all that INFO is available from your browser!
Or on your computer and they're using the browser to reach into your computer.
Posted by: John Krill | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:13 AM
I feel a bit greenish/turquiose today!
Posted by: Ed | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:27 AM
What about us elderly, graduate degree'd who browse from work?,
Posted by: Tim McDevitt | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:37 AM
Based on population, we Canadians seem to be over-represented. Wow, we're not only polite but have good taste too.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:38 AM
Haha, I fit the bill perfectly :-D
Posted by: RawheaD | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:42 AM
I'm male, I'm at home, I'm 51 but look younger (or so I'm told) I'm not graduate school educated but I have a City & Guilds in Electrical Engineering and I'm a right smartar$e.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:50 AM
How do you know our genders?
(I mean, in my case it's a reasonable guess based on my pseudonym, but I'm curious as to how Google is determining that figure.)
Everything else about the profile is correct, however.
Slobodan, perhaps it is that they are browsing after work is done. In which case, this suggests that most of TOP's readers are responsibile sorts (or have day jobs where surfing isn't possible).
Posted by: Rana | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:57 AM
Ah, I didn't read carefully enough. The first is an estimate, based on generic internet profiles, not TOP specific.
I guess all that graduate education didn't do much good!
Posted by: Rana | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:58 AM
And what about us 'silver surfers' (male)over 70! in the UK?
Posted by: Reg Paley UK | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:00 AM
Divide those numbers by the population in each country and you'll find that Canada Loves you.
Posted by: bob | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:14 AM
"Not fair". How about 45 year old males with post-graduate education browsing from their mobile phones? ;->)
Posted by: EZ | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:19 AM
I'm 27, male, hold a bachelor's degree, and read your site during downtime at the office. I suspect most people in my category are over at dpreview arguing about whether the 85/1.4 is REALLY worth the difference in price over the 85/1.8. This census makes me feel ahead of the curve...
By the way, the answer to the 85mm quandary is, Hell yes.
Posted by: Eric Ford | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:24 AM
OMG! TOP is the new facebook! You know too much about us (me)! What will you do with all that info? Out of curiosity, what percentage clicks on the joyful nudes link with regularity? I know I do.
Posted by: Ramon Acosta | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:33 AM
"It tells you something about the state of the economy when graduate school-educated males in their prime are at home, browsing internet :-(("
If it's any comfort I never graduated from anywhere and I have to hide the link to Joyful nudes whenever my boss walks by.
Posted by: Sean | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:39 AM
Male, 58, PhD. Visit this site, but very few others, daily -- from work (during breaks), from home (during breaks), and on travel (in boring hotel rooms).
BTW, what is "elderly?"
Posted by: GKFroehlich | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:43 AM
Oh, yeah? You don't know me, hotshot. It just so happens, that I'm 40, male, have an MA and browse this site from WORK...most of the time.
Posted by: Plannerben | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:43 AM
"Elderly females" are most welcome here as well
Glad to hear it, as I'm in that category too (when did that happen?!) :). Did go to law school though, and I usually browse from home in The Netherlands.
Posted by: J. | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:53 AM
I'm male, 34, with a BA and I'm at work. HA! :-)
Posted by: Jim Mooney | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:58 AM
True. 42 in 3 weeks. A professor of engineering.
Posted by: SeanG | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:02 PM
Fooled it. Maybe I'm 40, maybe I have a graduate degree.
But I do most of my work from home.
Posted by: John | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:12 PM
Based on internet averages, theonlinephotographer.com is visited more frequently by males who are in the age range 35–44, are graduate school educated and browse this site from home
----------
It's a precise profile of me!
Posted by: Frank | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:14 PM
males ✔
who are in the age range 35–44, ✔
are graduate school educated ✔
and browse this site from home ✔
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late to pick up from the garage my standard-issue-for-my-neighborhood station-wagon. Ah, to squarely be in a marketing demographic.
Sent from my iPhone
Posted by: Timo | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:19 PM
Ok, well I have a Bachelors Degree, summa cum laude, does that count? I'm a professional photographer, author, and let's just say in my 40's, so Alexa is pretty good...though I never got that graduate degree finished....
Posted by: Rolando Gomez | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:20 PM
"Divide those numbers by the population in each country and you'll find that Canada Loves you."
...And I love Canada!
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:37 PM
"BTW, what is 'elderly?' "
I believe old age is now defined by the DSM IV TR as 65 and older. It used to be 60, but people are living longer and also retaining their vitality longer than previously.
Me, I'm elderly in body, adolescent in brain, and I'm only 53.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:43 PM
Seems the main bunch is a wee bit younger then I am (darn, I just changed the number yesterday !!!).
I'm surprised France does show in the breakdown, but then, T.O.P. is written in bona fide language, allowing for our graduate school frog eaters to stay on the level !!!
Keep the good work Mike, the world is watching you...
Jacques
Posted by: Jacques Pochoy | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:43 PM
me not even ispeak engrsih
Posted by: Michael C | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:46 PM
Alexa's statistics are gathered by a little applet that is run on the computers (usually home machines) that are owned by Alexa participants, who agree to contribute their usage stats in return for hints, tips, leads to interesting stuff, etc. that go beyond what Google might offer and are somewhat proactive. I would guess that Alexa's demographics are just what you described as TOP's. But that may not mean that other, particularly older (like me), demographics don't watch TOP. Your RSS feeds vs. Alexa watchers may be biased the other way, to a younger group.
scott
Posted by: scott kirkpatrick | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:47 PM
Hm Mike - I'm also looking at my stats (done with the free and open source webalizer program) from time to time, but I guess those are based on some assumptions which aren't necessarily true. Like:
- all .com domains origin from the US
- .us is never used
- .org and .net are "other"
And so on. Here in Germany for instance, we have a very huge user base who are using DSL lines from German Telekom - which come in as .net. We also have some .com domains here which are in the case of big enterprises being split with subdomains *before*, like at my employers' - my address there is within de.ibm.com. And we are almost 20,000 employees here in Germany, and don't ask me how many in the UK or in France or elsewhere - and all come in as .com.
So assumptions made by these statistical tools, like .com=US are simply wrong. Therefore, the country stats cannot really tell us much. At least take them with a grain of salt.
cheers,
Wolfgang
Posted by: Wolfgang | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:51 PM
btw: I'm male, 53, and come in mostly from home (.de), but sometimes also from work (.com)
Posted by: Wolfgang | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:56 PM
"At least take them with a grain of salt."
Wolfgang,
Oh, I do. For instance, no one knows I'm a dog.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 12:59 PM
Ha, you lose! Graduate school drop-out, 64.
Not at all like your other readers...
Posted by: Paris | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 01:01 PM
Which (if correct) makes your audience here YOUNGER than some other photo groups I'm involved in!
(I'm overage and under-educated, apparently.)
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 01:07 PM
That leaves me out. 56 years young. Goofed my way through high school and was formally educated on a construction site. But I do read TOP at home. Must count for something? lol
Posted by: MJFerron | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 01:09 PM
I'm male, 24, visit daily from work, home or iphone while on transit. Makes me a young TOP addict?
Posted by: Avi | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 01:15 PM
54, married with children, expat US living in Germany...
Dual BA in philosophy/psychology, MA in political science, economics and philosophy, ABD in the 1980s in philosophy, and am contemplating a doctorate in economics...before I retire. :-)
Posted by: John F. Opie | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 01:41 PM
Well. I guess I barely make the profile. I am male, unemployed at 55, back in college to learn Internet Technologies, but still enjoying the photography after seven years. And the sun is out in all its glory over in Port Angeles. It helps that the college quarter ended two days ago too.
Posted by: Mathew D. Hargreaves | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 01:43 PM
German male, 38, Diplom-Ingenieur, at home ...
Posted by: Andreas Weber | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 02:07 PM
Damn.
males - apparently so;
in the age range 35–44 - mental or physical age?;
graduate school educated - Phew. Over here we have universities;
browse this site from home - I work from home, how does that count?
Think I must be The Average tOP Reader personified. Meh. ;)
Posted by: Tim | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 02:14 PM
I fit the demographic.
What intrigues me though are a couple of mentions of "Joyful Nudes" in the comments. I'm browsing from a Mac through a VPN and have every available ad-blocker enabled, so all I see of TOP is three panes, the outer pair being blank apart from Resources, Categories and Stats on the right.
I perfectly well know that t'internet is full of that sort of stuff, but I'm very surprised that TOP links to it: it isn't what I expected and TBH, I'm more than a little surprised and downcast.
Posted by: James | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 02:41 PM
"Which (if correct) makes your audience here YOUNGER than some other photo groups I'm involved in!"
Heck, it makes some of your audience younger than our Gitzos and Majestics!
Posted by: GKFroehlich | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 02:50 PM
I'm homeless, 66 years of age, and dropped out of high school. But I do have mad photo skilz.
Where do I fit in?
JimD
Posted by: Jim D | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 03:03 PM
JimD,
You fit right in here too.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 03:45 PM
Wow, I'm just a little younger than the average but other than that the report nailed it!
Posted by: Martin | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 03:52 PM
Just curious, what about us who rarely visit, but subscribe to an RSS feed and consequently pay a "virtual visit" several times a day? Are we registered at all? No clicks.
Posted by: Vegard | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:09 PM
How many readers are in Sweden? If there is only one ... then I guess I'm him ...
Posted by: Richard E. | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:23 PM
Female, BA, MBA, browse from home or on my iPhone. Old enough to have my Medicare card.
Posted by: KN | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:27 PM
Richard E.,
In the past 30 days we've had 13,490 visits from Sweden. So it's probably not all you unless you check the site 450 times a day. [g]
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:33 PM
Male, at home (and work), a PhD, but I'm only 30. Sorry, man, waaaaaaaaaaaay off.
Posted by: Finn | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:41 PM
OK, now you've gone and made me feel one year-(too-)old :)
Posted by: Ludovic | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:43 PM
Ummmmmm - yes?
I'm not a number…I'm an Internet average :-(
Posted by: Stuart Dootson | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 04:55 PM
No degree, and seeing that I'm not the only one makes me feel better.
Male, 43 (and holding... but only for another month), and seeing as there's no networks on coal mines (not for us grotty workers, anyway), I log in using my own connection from home, mobile broadband from camp, iPhone when I'm travelling to work.
Take that, statistics.
Posted by: RobG | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 05:32 PM
I feel so AVERAGE. 35, male, PhD (marine biology), reading at home.
You are also very popular in Australia, which is where I am.
Voltz
Posted by: V.I. Voltz | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 07:06 PM
RobG,
I don't have any sort of academic degree at all. Only a BFA in studio art (photography, naturally).
I guess I'm not qualified to read TOP.... [g]
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 07:08 PM
Greetings, earth-photographers. We too enjoy whiffing along your intertubes (when in the neighborhood), however, faster-than-light travel moves us in a direction chronologically opposite to you, and so you ever appear younger, smoother, more alert, and if I dare say it -- tastier. At least to us, who appreciate such things. Unfortunately, because we travel so, we are now approaching the beginning-of-life of Windows 1.0 and must soon switch to MS-DOS. Farewell, farewell to you all. Wish us well. Happy clicking!
Posted by: Darwhon-7 | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 07:10 PM
Darwhon-7,
Okay, could YOU pick me up some Dassonville Charcoal Black?
Whoops, sorry, wrong thread.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 07:28 PM
I'm from the yellow slice of pie. 40. Diploma. Home.
And just to help the stats further. I read off an Eizo monitor (carefully profiled). I sit in one chair. I'm 6ft4. Dark hair. Drink tea. I shave with gillette. One wife. Three children. Two cars. One mower. Vegetable plot. One Leica. Two 'blads. Three Nikons. Six Macs. Left handed.
Posted by: David in Sydney | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 08:53 PM
Right age...but from work...and didn't go to graduate school...and in the yellow wedge..
What does that make me?
Posted by: confused - Melbourne, Australia | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 09:01 PM
Hmm. I'm older and less educated than y'all at 55 with only a 4 year degree.
And, I'm as likely to browse from the coffee shop or a hotel as I am from home.
Anyway, this is the site I go too with the lowest troll population, but I'm sure that's because Mike quashes the trollish posts during the review process, thus making his site appear to attract smarter posters than the average internet site.
Anyway, keep up the good work whilst I look for a masters program to further improve the demographics around here. I'll still be older than the average though, too bad I can't fix that. ;)
Posted by: Al Patterson | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 09:36 PM
Sixty-one, HS education, likes old mechanical do-dads thus interest in old cameras. (Have a DSLR but if it fell into salt water tomorrow would feel no particular loss and likely would not replace it.) Get a lot of pleasure from TOP and the guest contributors are first rate too.
Posted by: John Robison | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 09:51 PM
older but not elderly (according to previous posts) woman from Oz...lawyer and TOP fan...keep up the good work, Mike!
Posted by: Ann | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 10:53 PM
How do they know that most have post-graduate education? Because they can use a semi-colon correctly? Do they know what my statistically favorite camera is? Do I use the zone system? (I fit the profile but am 13 years outside the demographic limit).
Posted by: Tom F | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:41 PM
Early fifties, female, and college grad...but I do browse from home. Never did like being part of the average!
Posted by: Cin | Thursday, 09 December 2010 at 11:53 PM
Huh. Except for the age (very late 50's) that pretty well describes me - Ph.D. and only browse from home. Empty nester with a cabinet full of vintage film cameras and a dSLR.
Posted by: Tom | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 12:04 AM
Male, 34, PhD. From home.
Bang on. I wonder why the blog appeals more to those with graduate degrees?
Posted by: Sherlock Holmes | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 12:21 AM
Hi there, I'm 20, male, undergraduate and from Malaysia.
That's 1 out of those 185 countries. :)
Posted by: Zeeman | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 02:30 AM
Wolfgang,
I might have misunderstood your post, but Google Analytics does not base its geographic location data on your domain name, but on your outgoing IP address. These can be located down to city (or lower) level via various database services available to people like Google.
Cheers,
Richard
Male
36
Degree Educated
UK
Posted by: Richard K | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 04:44 AM
I just made 42, most of my peers and colleagues have graduate degrees, but I have no degree at all, just the right blend of book learnin' and experience that lets me compete and collaborate with my fellow engineers. I work for a very large company and I have no office other than my desk at home. I work from here and on the road, so when I visit TOP it may be either.
I never quite, completely fit in anywhere!
Posted by: Phil Maus | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 07:31 AM
I guess I'm not average: Four-year degree and retired, though I do read TOP at home.
So far we've heard from several "older" women, but not from any younger ones. Why is that?
Posted by: Chuck Holst | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 08:19 AM
Yet another average guy, I'm male 43 (Qualified product designer) browse from home. Although I do fall into a grey area, as I live in Cape Town, South Africa.
Posted by: David | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 11:13 AM
Well I'm not educated. I only got through HS by the skin of my teeth (but I do have a few college credits). I'm 63 and a self taught photographer and darkroom printer. I've never sold a print but have many hanging on friends and family members walls. I guess my love of photography is my only connection to TOP but I think that's enough.
Posted by: Tom Swoboda | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 11:55 AM
Gray area. :-) In Croatia, as you probably know.
A bit over the age bracket (48, one month more).
Education, now that's funny. I've got a university diploma. Probably BA for you in the USA. But now that they switched to the Bologna, there's talk that they might recognise our diplomas as MA.
Surfing almost always from home. Being a freelancer will do that to you. :)
Interestingly, the TOP readership seems to be generally older than they expect. All this text will do that. :)
Posted by: erlik | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 02:00 PM
Thanks Richard K from the UK - I should have thought so, and have a look at it...
cheers,
Wolfgang
Posted by: Wolfgang | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 02:32 PM
So... 185 countries?? What can i tell you... you're missing 10, my friend, how do you live with yourself?! Maybe you should stop being so lazy and start posting some stuff in swahili, persian, nepali or portuguese (i'm from Brazil, BTW). ;-)
Posted by: Marcos Moreira | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 03:19 PM
"What can i tell you... you're missing 10, my friend, how do you live with yourself?!"
Marcos,
Yes, the TOP World Dominion Project still has a way to go. But look at it this way--in 2007, it was 56 countries.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 05:46 PM
Ha! Only 28, and at a coffeeshop!
Posted by: James Liu | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 06:27 PM
Interesting. I used Google Analytics to compute not only vocation and nationality of my readers, but also hair color and sexual preferences:
http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2010/11/b-sliced-and-diced_06.html
Posted by: Blake | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 06:35 PM
I'm 18 and from Norway. I guess I'm the odd one out.
Posted by: Ole | Friday, 10 December 2010 at 06:36 PM
Right on! An Indian in the US. Reads from home mostly on iPhone. One of my fav sites. Thanks!
Posted by: Ibungo | Saturday, 11 December 2010 at 02:11 PM
Well you got me there ^. But I bet you can't guess how tall I am.
Posted by: Gary Lester | Monday, 13 December 2010 at 11:32 AM
Gary,
You're just under 5'11".
Mike
Posted by: Mike Johnston | Monday, 13 December 2010 at 12:04 PM