If you’re a blogger who uses FeedBurner for your RSS feed, have you noticed occasional FeedBurner glitches that result in large fluctuations in the number of reported subscribers for your site? We sure have. Numbers seem to have stabilized lately, but it isn’t uncommon to read complaints from bloggers whose subscriber counts have fluctuated dramatically on occasion. Some bloggers that are considering publishing their subscriber count might hesitate to do so when they realize how erratic these numbers can be when the inevitable glitch strikes.
The site Cats Who Blog has some PHP code you can use in a WordPress blog to take an average of your subscriber count for 7 days, and publish it on your site. The site also provides instructions on how to use a different time window, if you want a time period other than 7 days. The site also explains how to get round numbers, and what will display on the site:
On my sidebar, I’m using my “average feed readers” function to display an estimate of my RSS readers. In order to have a better display, I have replaced the last two numbers by zeros and added a plus sign.
This way, if I have 1287 readers, you’ll see “1200+ readers” instead.
Hit the link for full instructions.
How to Get a More Relevant Feedburner Count [Cats Who Blog]
kosmo @ The Soap Boxers says:
Not to nit-pick (because I do like the idea), but this gives you the mean, which can be skewed by erratic numbers on 1-2 days (let’s say Feedburner reports a 0).
For example:
Day 1: 500
Day 2: 500
Day 3: 0
Day 4: 500
Day 5: 500
Day 6: 0
Day 7: 500
The average is going to get reported as 357.
If, however, you use the median (create an array with the 7 values and select the 4th one), you’ll get an average of 500 – which seems to be the correct value. As a bonus, you’ll always get an integer.
August 23, 2010 — 10:21 pm
Evan Kline says:
I haven’t dug into the code, but I’ll take your word that it gives you the mean, not median. I agree that a median value would be more accurate, to eliminate those crazy days where the Feedburner count drops by several hundred, only to pop right back the next day.
August 23, 2010 — 10:26 pm