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A lengthy list of 200 sites ranked by Compete's Attention Share metric has a few insights, but it's even more fun to sort that information yourself. "With the number of sites on this very active list, it’s difficult to call out specific changes," Max Freiert said on the Compete blog. "So here’s another thing we’ll provide before our industry peers: the ability to play with the data."

That statement appears at the end of Freiert's post about the latest Compete ratings for June 2007. Until I scrolled down that far, I had been lamenting the way they posted that data, as an image.

So I have to take back the bad words that crossed my mind. All is forgiven, Compete.

The Attention Share metric considers all the time people collectively spend online, then determines what percentage of that time was spent on a given site.

MySpace proved the attention-getter in June, racking up a 12.8 percent share. That nearly doubled Yahoo's second place 6.5 percent rating. MSN, eBay, and Google followed those two.

Thanks to Compete's online spreadsheet, visitors can also sort the rankings alphabetically, or by change in Attention Share since December 2006.

Doing that shows how sites like ToysRUs, SportsLine, and Best Buy have dropped the farthest in the attention Compete has measured. Apple likewise showed a big drop, which seems odd in contrast with the buzz and hype around the iPhone that culminated at the end of June.

Websites for Fun-Photo and video sharer Veoh were the two big climbers in Attention, each scoring four-figure percentage gains through this year.

Freiert noted the emergence of some trends in the data they provided:

•  There is some evidence of seasonal shopping trends (retail related sites plummeted in attention) •  The web continues to socialize: media and networking sites gain attention across the board •  The NFL passes the ball to NASCAR in terms of sports attention, as it falls completely off the list