I’m trying, really I am. Part of the problem is that any liberal arts major can look at a chart (or worse, make one) and draw completely specious, unwarranted, and often contradictory conclusions. Or rationalize around numbers we don’t like: “Have we accounted for seasonality?” “It’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison.” “True, pageviews are low, but we’re targeting influencers.”  “The numbers we can collect don’t capture the true impact.”

Actually, those last two sound a lot like last week’s “The ROI for Social Media Is Zero” by Augustine Fou [link via @MaddieGrant], which reads a lot to me like an apologia for social media metrics, though it’s more of an indictment of traditional media marketing metrics.

On the other side (well, on another side), is Geoff Livingston’s “Thoughts on Measurement,” which says that social media measurement isn’t that hard, if you start by looking at a strategy’s desired result, which informs the type of metric to use, which implies the tools needed.

It’s all very confusing. It’s handy to have a few metrics aphorisms to whip out when you get into trouble, including grumbling “lies, damn lies, and statistics,” “correlation is not causation,” and the whole, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Getting beyond the aphorisms, I’m going to list out a few Web resources that I’m tracking in an effort to bone up a little more on Web metrics and analytics. This is by no means a comprehensive list, so if you’ve got your own resources that you’ve found useful, leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list:

* KD Paine’s PR Measurement Blog – I was first introduced to KD at 2008 Blog Potomac conference. Her book, Measuring Public Relationships, had just come out, and though I didn’t get it then, I have it now and I’m catching up.

Her blogroll and sidebar are chock full of other resources to check out, and you could probably do worse than running down the list.

* Measuring Success, the Web site for the book by Brian Clifton — I came across this site after searching on a question about Google Analytics.

* Speaking of which — whatever tools you’re using, read the help resources, docs, and other learning guides (Google Analytics has Conversion University, for example) –basically, RFTM.

* Trending Upward — this blog is targeted towards analytics in higher education, but there’s good primer material on all sorts of Web metrics stuff.

* Social Science Statistics Blog — this one is way, way in the weeds and thus over my head [to mix my metaphors], but I’ve known since the 2007 International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media that I need to bone up on my knowledge of statistics. At the very least, I’m trying to get to the point where I can ask better questions after reading, say, the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report.

Anyway, like I said, this is just a short list of resources I’ve added to my feedreader to try to get better at applying analytics. If you’ve got your own suggestions, please share in the comments.

Here, I’m going to do a linkdump of Web sites and RSS feeds that I try to keep up with (here I’ll list the Web sites — if you want to follow them via RSS, just look for the RSS subscription link on the particular site). Note that this isn’t a comprehensive list, and I’ll try to break them out by categories so you can focus in on areas you’re most interested in (though keep in mind, you should try to take a wider view of things and catch different perspectives…)

General Technology News

Like I said, don’t try to read them all: You’ll go nuts, for no good reason. Instead, sample a few and adjust according to your tastes.

* Straight-up tech news: I like newspaper and magazine sites, since they feature traditional articles as well as feeds from their own blogs. (Since the blogs also usually list articles from the main site, following either the blog or the site usually gets you articles from both): CNet, ZDNet; Wired News (and its blogs) for more geek cred; NYTimes Tech (which also usually highlights stuff from their blogs); sometimes the SF Chronicle.

For a trans-Atlantic flavour, I look to the Brits at BBC News Technology (and their dot.life blog), and less often, Guardian Technology

* Be wary of social linksharing sites like Slashdot and Digg (which still has a tech-geek bent); they’re useful, but you can lose a lot of time surfing random links. Remember, stay focused!

* Tech commentary and pundit blogs: For startup news, shiny things, and a look at who’s funding who, there’s Silicon Alley Insider, paidContent.org (a little bit more on the deal side of things), TechCrunch, and AllThingsD (incidentally, why I don’t read the WSJ Tech section — the interesting tech stuff makes it into the blog).  (Bonus: you get to follow along when the bloggers rag on each other.)

* Speaking of ragging… tech gossip sites like Uncov, Valleywag, and the Real Dan Lyons (aka the fake Steve Jobs) all use snark, to take the air out of some of the more overinflated stories (with varying degrees of profanity.) They can be useful for contrarian views.

* Editorial note: Oddly, I’m not that big on Techmeme, which tracks hot tech stories. I guess I like to cut to the source.

Here are sources that I mostly read via feeds — they’re mostly tech blogs, good for scanning and skimming headlines:

* Friend plugs: Besides belonging to people I know, I follow these blogs to keep an eye on specific segments of social media: Somewhat Frank (startups and shiny things); Susan Mernit’s Blog (perspectives on women and social media); Marketing Begins at Home (to dip my toe into seeing what the PR and Marketing folks are up to); ThereGoesDave (mobile media); and Web2.0h…Really? (journalism)

* More blogs about blogs (and more): CNet’s Blogma and The Social; ProBlogger Blog Tips; Read/WriteWeb; Mashable!; BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting; the Blog Herald; The Social Times; Osocio (with an eye towards social advocacy)

* Wonky: apophenia (danah boyd’s sociological/academic perspective); Pew Internet and American Life project (to keep an eye out on their periodic studies)

* Linky tech culture stuff: BoingBoing, waxy.org links, kottke.org

All this looks like a lot (and it is), but the good thing about using an RSS reader is that you only have to visit when you see there’s new content. Don’t forget to apply some of the strategies I mentioned to manage this torrent of information.

Do you see any glaring gaps in my knowledge? Got your own resources to share? Leave a comment below.

Editor’s note : If you have come this far in this article you deserve to be rewarded. How about a 25% off blog hosting coupon to start your own WordPress Blog ?   Click here  and add coupon OFFER00522 (case sensitive please) at checkout. – @shashib

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