I think it's unscientific to assume that the writer did not engage the reader based on read time. Perhaps the reader ended up on a wonderfully written article, but the reader was researching a very specific niche topic related to the subject. Or maybe the reader used too broad a search term, or failed to read the SEO description, or any number of things. We can't conclude the writer did anything wrong unless we assess the reader data as well.

I think the idea of giving a reader report on books feels like an invasion of privacy too. However, we need to have a conversation on that topic because that technology is out there. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!