Most history of Web analytics postings and stories routinely cover Analog by Dr. Steve Turner a rather simplistic log file analyzer. Others mention i/Pro, netGenesis, Interse, NetCount and WebTrends.
What they often miss is Lilypad, a marketing and adertising oriented Web-based analytics application. Lilypad was developed by Streams Online Media Development in 1995 and announced in the Fall of 1995. Unlike most of the other technical log file analytics tools, Lilypad was original in that it focused on promotional measurement. Importantly, Lilypad utilized its own database of activity and was coded in Perl leveraging server-side inludes the predecessor to JavaScript page tags.
Lilypad was programmed by James Allenspach under my direction during dowtime in-between client projects. Dave Skwarzek and I worked to brand and promote the product in way that marketers could appreciate. A seminal offering by a scrappy Web boutique start-up to be sure, Lilypad was influential as an early site metrics tracking application:
- Written up in AdAge, Crain’s Chicago Business and others
- Featured in Rick Stout’s book Web Site Stats (1996)
- Referenced in numerous patent applications
- Led Streams to presentr at an ARF panel in 1995 and academic research poceedings
- Caused the author to be deposed as an expert witness for Amazon
- Was utilized by several Streams Online Media Development‘s clients
If you are doing research on the history of site analytics, digital media tracking or online media measurement, you can learn more about Lilypad here.
