Compete.com ... licenses clickstream data from ISPs to find out what more than 8 million active Internet users visiting 200,000-plus sites worldwide are up to.
—"Spy on the Other Guys," Smart Business, November, 2001
At a March 10 meeting in Manhattan, the group will advocate that researchers develop technologies to measure "clickstreams" — that is, the paths online users take as they navigate various menus or home screens, as well as the elapsed time between each move.
—Wayne Friedman and Jane Weaver, "Calculating cyberspace: tracking 'clickstreams.'," Inside Media, February 15, 1995
This word may be a play on
jet stream, one meaning of which refers to the flow of exhaust gases created by a jet engine. Part of these gases is condensed water vapor which forms a so-called
condensation trail (also:
contrail or
vapor trail), which enables an observer to see the path the jet has taken.
