We first wrote about Wakoopa when they launched in April. It’s a downloadable program for application addicts that tracks the software or games you use. We called it a Last.fm for applications, alluding to the program’s tracking and recommendation system similar to audio scrobbling.
While there are obvious privacy concerns (addressed here), over 17,000 people have signed up for the service (no word on downloads). The site draws half a million people each month to profiles for over 70,000 applications they track on Mac, PC and even the iPhone. To date, they’ve tracked about 110 million hours of software usage. Firefox is the top ranked app, with over half a million hours of use.
All this usage has generated some pretty interesting data that Wakoopa is now exposing through new Alexa-like graphs. Although Wakoopa will be officially launching the graphing feature tomorrow, TechCrunch readers can get access now by just adding “?techcrunch=true” to any URL(example). Like Alexa, the graphs show the relative rank and reach (% usage) of an application amongst their sample population. By first quarter next year, they’ll allow comparisons of up to 5 applications and embedding.
Granted, the sample population is pretty geeky. The current data reveals some kind of alternate universe where Firefox’s superior browser has finally usurped Explorer’s majority market share (see below). Yet even though it may be biased, the data gives a previously unseen look at highly valuable information about how we use our computers. For instance, Wakoopa has found Tuesday is the day users play games the least. They also found women spend twice as much time in Photoshop than men.
The team’s moving from Amsterdam to the valley next year, and I look forward to seeing what else they have planned for the product.
Congrats to Wakoopa! I’d love to hear more about their userbase. Is it a good cross-section of computer-users?
(Disclosure: I’m from RescueTime, which is kinda using similar technology, but focusing on the productivity/time management angle)
Alexa I understand, even with it’s flaws but this, I just don’t understand the value, who cares if I use Office 3x a day or if others use it more or less then me?
Jon
Handy that it’s now possible to compare your software with that of your competitor, because the TOP5 @ Wakoopa was never changing (all browsers)
i hope it is nothing like alexa, alexa is disappointing and totally inaccurate.
Alexa, soooo accurate!
After you ran the article, I installed it.
I have to say, I dont go to the site other than when Im bored, but its still a great site. I enjoy looking at new programs, and seeing how many people use the same programs.
It also fascinates me how much time I spend with a program, but I find there assessments very inaccurate. For instance, it says I have used Winrar more than Trillian.
I know this isnt the case. I use Trillian on a daily basis to talk to friends. I use winrar maybe 2x a week.
If this is acceptable to people, then why not participate in Microsoft’s Windows Feedback Program and get Vista For Free! Read more about it here
Thanks for the write-up, Nick! I’ve now enabled the graphs for everybody, so it’s no longer necessary to add the TechCrunch stuff to the URL.
As you and some of the commenters suggested, the (statistical) validity of our userbase may be a bit skewed towards the techies, but it’s still interesting to see the trends and compare between them. So for instance, why is game A rising in popularity while game B is dropping? All this stuff is available now for the everybody to see!
Pretty funny trend to see is Microsoft Word vs WoW, almost completely opposite trends.
@Joshua, if you’d like you can drop us a line with your username so we can try to determine where something goes wrong.
While it doesn’t have trend analysis (yet), for tracking time spent on applications/sites I highly recommend RescueTime.com
The graphing is quite gorgeous and there are plenty of ways to slice and dice the data. The team is pretty responsive on the forums as well.
The idea of tracking your computer usage is gaining ground. Our start-up hooeey (www.hooeey.com) is a application that allows users to record, retrieve and analyze their web hops seamlessly. Knowing how you spend your time on-line allows a user to manage his or her time better.
I’m very happy to see more Dutch web applications going global, and I’m even more happy for Robert and Wouter to see them getting the kind of free publicity they deserve. Wakoopa is awesome and the work these guys did in such a short time is wildly impressive, make me proud to be Dutch. But anyway, why is “the team moving to the valley”? I thought the whole point about the Internet was that you could work from any place in the world.
Cheers, Marko
Great to see use of this app growing, and the extra functions being added.
#2 Jon: As for not seeing the value in knowing what apps are being used - that’s how I discovered gems like Skitch, myNotes and Twitterific which now are almost always active on my desktop.
#11 Marko: The point about the Internet is that you CAN work form anywhere in the world. But the point about Valley is that you get internet people and money moving faster than anywhere else in the world.
BTW: The trackback “Wakoopa запускает Alexa для софта” is the same headline as this blog, but in Russian.
This is a really great alternative to staring at my naval. Now I can see how much other people are using various software. Armed with this data, I can…. well I can look at this data. Yea. Look at it. That’s what I’ll do!
wakoopa is great. The ideas seem pathetic at first (same like clutzr) but after few months its seem good to have your own history of software usage for comparisons and latest updates.
Wakoopa has a privacy settings so you wont have to worried about your public stats. In theory it works