Analysis of Commsrisk’s audience suggests the popularity of the website is undergoing a big shift of a type that will only become certain in hindsight.
- For most of its existence, Commsrisk was defined by its popularity amongst English-speaking audiences. India, USA and Britain generated far more visitors than any other country, but remained closely matched with each other. Audiences in other countries where English is widely spoken, such as Australia, Canada, Kenya and South Africa, were often but not always larger than audiences in populous advanced economies where English is not the first language, such as Germany and France.
- The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the Commsrisk audience because of the additional time people spent online. Visitor numbers from the USA accelerated so rapidly that the USA generated over one-third of all Commsrisk traffic during peak lockdown. There were significant absolute increases in the audience from almost every country. Large countries where English is less commonly spoken, such as China, started to appear nearer the top of the charts than before.
- The post-pandemic phase has seen a progressively larger share of traffic generated from visitors in countries where English is not the first language. This growth is most pronounced in advanced economies. The US audience continued to grow in absolute terms, but is less dominant in the mix because of a general rise in visitors from elsewhere, and in particular from parts of Europe and Asia where Commsrisk previously had fewer followers.
There are several possible explanations for post-pandemic audience trends, which appear to be accelerating.
- Automated translation is making Commsrisk more accessible worldwide.
- Countries where English is not widely spoken may require longer for viral recommendations to spread amongst professionals, but those professional audiences are now catching up with their English-speaking peers.
- An increased interest in consumer scams motivates new visitors from countries that are being targeted.
- The use of LLMs for search is changing the way some people find Commsrisk.
I suspect all of these factors affect the way Commsrisk’s audience is evolving. Whatever the exact reasons, it is pleasing to see how Commsrisk is increasing its reach in countries where English is not the first language.
These were the 10 most popular Commsrisk articles during May, based on the number of times each page was viewed.
- Buggy IMS Implementation Caused UK Mobile Operator to Broadcast the Location of Users
- Scam Hunters Observe Rising Use of T-Mobile US Prepaid SIMs by Criminals
- Chinese National Arrested with IMSI-Catcher near Philippine Election Authority
- 7 Arrests and 3 Fake Base Stations Seized in Istanbul
- Japanese Government Finally Admits SMS Blasters Are Circling Tokyo
- SK Telecom Stops Accepting New Subscribers at 2,600 Stores to Focus on Replacing Hacked SIMs of 25mn Phone Users
- Spanish Supreme Court Holds Bank Liable for Losses Following SIM Swap
- Philippines Arrests Two More Chinese for Using an IMSI-Catcher
- Prominent Industry Figures Criticize ‘Regulatory Capture’ by Biggest US Telcos
- Introducing the Commsrisk Global Fraud Dashboard
