The need for uniform data couldn't be more apparent with the release of the latest numbers from comScore and Nielsen. While comScore declared Yahoo No. 1 in its ranking of top 10 web properties during December, Nielsen awarded that position to rival Google.

Yahoo recorded 136.6 million users to Google's 133 million uniques, according to comScore. But Nielsen reported that Google grabbed 124.6 million uniques, compared to 114 million for Yahoo. Microsoft actually squeezed into the No. 2 spot at Nielsen, which reported 123 million uniques for the company.

While InternetNews.com  reported that much of the disparity can be attributed to different definitions used by comScore and Nielsen, the divergence of opinion highlights the growing data dilemma, namely that one unintended byproduct of a highly quantifiable medium seems be the diversity of popular metrics over a single, uniform accounting method.

Although the recent numbers from comScore and Nielsen may be indicative of a need for more order, both seem to agree that Google, which had traditional trailed far behind Yahoo as a portal, has made enormous strides to close the gap.