Here are some thoughts on altmetrics by Jenny Delasalle.

The problem with web stats and altmetrics is that there are potentially a lot of sources which will all measure the stats for different versions of the same item, or different elements of the same output, in different ways. This sort of thing is a driver for publication in an open access (OA) journal with one canonical copy of an article in just one place online: the so called “gold” route to OA.

It’s a valid argument. One of the main reasons why impact factors are so heavily relied upon is caused by the fact that it is easy to argue against alternatives. The question then is what does a download count say about a paper? Very little I guess. It just indicates how many people have looked at it—it does not say anything about the quality of the content. This assessment can hardly be automated; a crowdsourced solution is probably more feasible.