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Good post. Do you think comScore is reporting inaccurate numbers? Are you surprised that it's difficult to find out the basis for their report.
Whenever I read these reports, I always take them as a rough guide and never as an absolute truth. As Benjamin Disraeli said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics."
That's not to say there's no value. I look at these reports as a rough estimate.
The most accurate measure of activity would be to query each of the respective IM networks and ask how many unique accounts logged in over the same period (a month sounds about right). This would give you a rough idea of the total user community, although it will be skewed somewhat by those IM freaks who have multiple accounts (yes, I am one). I'm sure they could also tell you the geographic breakdown, just as Google Analytics does for websites.
But good luck getting Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Skype, etc. to share this information. It's better for them to create an impression of a vast network, and let's not quibble about the details. This way, they can charge advertisers higher rates.
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