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Enough is Enough...Market Research Fans, Groups, Wires & Websites?

Posted by Vaughn Mordecai on Thu, Feb 18, 2010 @ 02:33 PM
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This will likely be the last of my string of posts that take pot-shots at the Pot Shotnumerous sub-structures within the market research industry.  If you're a manager of one of these sub-structures, you can give a sigh of relief here (ENTER SIGH OF RELIEF). Two weeks ago, my article focused on the usefulness of market research directories.  Last week's article addressed the helpfulness of market research associations.  Finally, I think we need to turn to the numerous miscellaneous market research related news wires, websites, blogs, fan pages, communities, groups, etc.  Maybe you didn't realize all of these things existed...if not...ignorance may be bliss in this case.  There's a lot of stress involved with avidly keeping up on it all.

There's been quite a bit tweeted recently about the abundance (abundance may be an understatement...sheer volume) of market research related sites, groups, blogs, communities, etc. available to the market researcher.  For some of us, it's extremely difficult to keep a watchful eye towards everything that's going on and all that is posted with any kind of regularity.  It all becomes a little bit overwhelming (STOP THE MADNESS...KIDDING...KIND OF).  My RSS Feed alone contains fifteen market research related news wires and blog posts, not to mention all of the groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, the lists on Twitter, and the other "non-association" market research websites available that AREN'T in my news feeds.  Has enough become enough?

Don't get me wrong.  I'm glad that there are relevant sources of information for our industry.  What I'm saying is that I may have (HAVE) reached a threshold where it's becoming extremely difficult to keep track of it all without some additional technology to sift through it...UNLESS I ignore a bunch of what's available and focus only on my favorites.  Here they are:

If you haven't done this already, I have a recommendation for those who are trying to filter through all their "feeds."  Get an application to consolidate your Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In accounts.  Here are a couple of sites to check out.  I'm sure there are A LOT more of these...maybe some that are even better, however a quick analysis of the people I follow showed these two as most prevalent.  I'm not sure of the advantages or disadvantages each has over the other.

  • HootSuite - I've signed up for this service to test it but don't have a lot of experience with it yet.  It's largely an online application, however it does look like it has desktop browser plug ins and can be loaded on a Mac.  It has an IPhone application.
  • Tweetdeck - I use this software on both my desktop and on my mobile phone.  It's been very helpful in allowing me to quickly eye what's being posted without a lot of searching around...and it's desktop and IPhone applications are free. 
Blogs, Hashtags & Twitter Lists (Ok - I know they aren't really the same thing).  But, in my information overloaded mind they make a logical category...probably because many tweets are based on blogs and often the blog posts are stimulated by information being tweeted (like this one).
  • Blogs - In an attempt to avoid repeating what has already been done.  I won't say much about blogs.  Research Rockstar put together two excellent articles on market research blog sources.  Their titles are Great Market Research Blogs: Part 1 and Great Market Research Blogs: Part 2.  This blog was lucky enough to get a quick mention.  Overall, the blogs that I found interesting from these two lists make up most of my RSS Feeds. 
  • Aside from the folks you "follow" on Twitter.  It's probably worthwhile to consider following these Twitter hashtags (#MR, #MarketResearch, #LatinMR, #MROC).  Hashtags have been created for just about any topic.  I haven't really seen a comprehensive list of hashtags but hashtags.org is an interesting next best thing.  If you have a twitter application like Tweetdeck you can follow hashtags to your heart's content without having to figure out how to "dig" through them using the standard Twitter interface.
  • Twitter lists are also being created for just about everything.  If you really want to dig deep, search some of them out related to Market Research.  I've kind of drawn a line in the sand for myself personally at this point.  Too much info (TMI).  On the other hand, take a look at this list on wefollow that id's the "most influential" market research tweeters.

Website market research news wires are easy to keep up on because you can set them up as an RSS feed in Outlook or other e-mail package, in your browser, or using a stand-alone application.  I mentioned that many of my RSS feeds are blog related.  Here are a few of my "non-association" favorite wires:

The number of market research communities and market research groups seems to be exploding.  Increasingly, these are becoming much more difficult to track.  A quick search on "market research" under the groups section of Linked In generated 377 search results.  I'm able to get some value out of the following Linked In groups:

Incidentally, these also have their own associated websites that may also bring value on some level.

In addition to Linked In, market research related Facebook fan pages are popping up all over.  Companies have their own Facebook pages, but more non-company specific pages are also emerging.  Personally, I'm a "fan" of "Market Research Rocks! (hell yeah it does)" but I haven't jumped in to any others.

Phew...I feel like I've just thrown up...purged all of this information from my system into an article.  Sorry it was so long but I had to get it out and move on.  If someone is aware of a MASTER AGGREGATOR that will feed all of these sources, maybe provide information on "retweet" content (a frequency of "retweeted" articles would be nice), organize it into an easy "desktop" interface, all for "free"...please clue me in.  Until that time, I'll continue to overwhelm myself with the daunting task of "keeping up" in a very fast evolving industry with great content (actually I put limitations on the time I spend with these outlets...which is the first step in the information addiction).

  • I'm sure I've missed someone, snubbed one of my "followers" or ignored something impactful.  Feel free to comment and add additional insight as you see fit.  The more the merrier...Right?
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Comments

Great topic!  
No one person has time to go through all the research content that is available online. 
It is like panning for gold...you might find a nugget or two of good information, but it is a ton of work. It simply is not cost or time effective. 
 
At Quirk's Marketing Research Review, we have three basic goals. 
 
1. Provide the most complete compilation and aggregation of resources to serve the industry (especially aimed toward buyers of research on the client side) 
 
2. Produce original content on research techniques and case histories of successful research projects. 
 
3. Whenever possible we make access to these resources free of charge to both the end user and to the research companies. 
 
Here are the resources we currently offer. They are free to use and also free for research companies to list in: 
 
• A monthly print magazine, Digital magazine, twice monthly e-newsletter 
• An archive of 2,500+ research technique and case study articles 
• Monthly aggregation of Industry information including: 
o Names of Note (research and client company hirings and promotions) 
o Research Industry News (new research firms, relocations, new accounts, earnings reports, etc.) 
o Survey Monitor (Interesting survey findings) 
o Product and Service Update (new research-related products and services) 
 
• A completely free Job board with currently 350+ postings (free to view and post) 
• A listing of all marketing Research degree programs 
• A listing of all marketing research-related events and Webinars throughout the world. 
• A Glossary of more than 1,600 marketing research terms 
• Online Discussion groups 
 
• A directory of 7,000 Research companies searchable in more than 500 categories 
• A directory of all 1,000+ focus group facilities around the world 
• A directory of more than 1,500 moderators 
• A directory of 800+ telephone interviewing facilities 
• A directory of 350+ research software titles 
• A directory of 350+ mystery shopping companies 
• A directory of 400+ research panels 
• Free RFP Service. 
 
• And new in 2010, we are aggregating all research related multimedia and listing it in our new multimedia directory (free of course.) 
 
And if others have any ideas of other resources we should add or improvements we can make, please contact me. 
Posted @ Friday, February 19, 2010 2:22 PM by Dan Quirk
Hello Dan. There does seem to be a treasure trove of information on the Quirks sight. And it seems like you've added significant value in terms of consolidation of resources all in one spot for the industry. It's an excellent resource that many researchers turn to very quickly. Maybe a listing of market research related social media resources is next (aka Twitter names, blogs, communities, etc.)...is that what you're referring to "new in 2010"?
Posted @ Friday, February 19, 2010 3:02 PM by Vaughn Mordecai
We are going to make some site changes which will allow us to compile even more lists of things like Blogs, communities etc. -- so that will be coming. 
 
The item we just launched though will be a searchable directory where we list, categorize and display any research-rlated multimedia...so anyone that has video training or interviews etc. will be able to post that on our site. 
 
www.quirks.com
Posted @ Friday, February 19, 2010 3:56 PM by Dan Quirk
Interesting post and perspective. I'm not sure though I share your angst at the number of blogs etc out there. Mainly because I don't feel the overwhelming need to monitor them all. It's like the famous cartoon where a wife is asking her husband to come to bed and he says 'No, there is someone wrong...on the internet'. Instead of being overwhelmed by the sheer number, I'm excited that coming out if an industry that has tended toward the insular (and dull) there are lots if interesting and challenging posts to get the juice going. And my advice is dip in and out when inspiartion calls. No need to treat blog musings as 'must reads' - if a new post is missed it's not the end of the world. normally I would always chose simplicity, but on this topic my vote gies to complexity and proliferation, and letting go the idea that you gave to monitor it all.
Posted @ Monday, February 22, 2010 2:51 PM by Kelly Tall
I like your perspective. That's the basic conclusion I've had to come to for myself personally. I see so many people that appear to spend their entire day trying to stay on top of everything that is going on each minute...every second in some cases. I can't do that...and probably don't want to. I've had to reduce my information consumption down to a limited amount of time each day with the goal of taking a read at the articles that spark my attention the most. The list above are some of the highlights. I agree with you in that it's good to see exciting content posted from an industry that often-times reads like an academic paper.
Posted @ Monday, February 22, 2010 3:20 PM by Vaughn Mordecai
I'm torn. There is indeed a lot out there, and I love to find new sources. However, it's easy to drown in content. I don't try to keep up, across the board. I read blogs from Twitter people when they pop up, and my absolute favourites go on my RSS feed. 
 
Personally, I find that the flow of content is cut significantly when I consider relevance: many of the sources are from the USA, and while they can have great content, there are some differences in outlook and practice that make them less relevant to me as a UK-based researcher.  
 
I'd like to see far more in certain areas: there are still very few qualitative research blogs, for example. However, I love that the internet is finally allowing researchers in different fields to have this conversation.
Posted @ Tuesday, February 23, 2010 5:35 AM by Ali Macleod
That's really how I've turned to approach the process. When the blog feeds that are posted on Twitter seem interesting, I'll read them. RSS keeps me the most up to date.  
 
That's an interesting perspective on the flow of content, especially geographically. I've noticed that many of the blogs I follow are US based. Most of the qualitative content is focused almost exclusively on online qualitative and/or MROC's. All good points!
Posted @ Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:21 AM by Vaughn Mordecai
Do you think it would be helpful if Quirk's did a blog and/or social network Round-up once a month either in print, e-newsletter our online of all the most popular discussions or postings...eliminating all the Sales ones)?
Posted @ Tuesday, February 23, 2010 2:20 PM by Dan Quirk
Just recently one of my Twitter contacts (@JHenning) started doing this and it was excellent. Personally, I think it would be useful to your readers who are not as tied in to Twitter or other social networks and don't often see the robust content coming from that area of our industry.
Posted @ Wednesday, February 24, 2010 10:05 AM by Vaughn Mordecai
I'm with Ali on this one... I'm slightly addicted to reading new information on the market research industry, especially anything related to the qualitative side of things. However, content overload is a big issue (not just with MR-related info, but in anything internet-related). I also have a slight addiction to Digg.com, which makes things even worse. 
 
I also have no idea how some people can sit on Twitter all day and actually get a lick of work done. It amazes me... I would need to dedicate every hour of the day to stay on top of conversations there, which wouldn't result in happy clients at the end of the day :-) 
 
In general, though, I think it's great that social media activity related to market research has picked up a lot in the past few years. It shows that the industry is finally starting to "get it" a bit more. I welcome the flow of (relevant and useful) content from fellow researchers... 
 
- 
Matt 
@mattpluggedin
Posted @ Thursday, February 25, 2010 9:05 AM by Matt Foley
Thanks for the addition Matt. I'm with you, I don't see how folks can stay connected to their Twitter accounts all day long. It all starts to feel very Pavlovian (nice reference to Pavlov's dogs). I like that there's a ton of content being made available out there, but I think, for the sake of getting work done, we have to be selective about what we pay attention to, or when we pay attention to it. Great comments!
Posted @ Thursday, February 25, 2010 12:03 PM by Vaughn Mordecai
Thanks for the plug for Next Gen Market Research (NGMR)! ;)
Posted @ Saturday, March 06, 2010 8:51 PM by Tom H. C. Anderson
Ipsos provide a large resource of articles, case studies etc on our North American website, in addition to our news and polling division.
Posted @ Friday, March 12, 2010 2:21 PM by Clint
Thanks Mr Mordecai. Great article. 
 
 
 
I am also looking for a blog on qualitative research. I think I'll make my own ! 
 
 
 
Cheers, 
 
 
 
Pierre Gauthier 
 
http://www.qualitative-research-canada.com/
Posted @ Tuesday, March 16, 2010 2:39 PM by Pierre
Sounds like a good idea Pierre. Take a look at the blog posts by Research Rockstar mentioned in this article, you might find an interesting qualitative blog to jump to from her post. Thanks for the comment.
Posted @ Tuesday, March 16, 2010 4:12 PM by Vaughn Mordecai
I would say that about 50% of what is written in Quirk's is Qualitative research --and not just online. 
 
Here is a link to just the 71 articles published as Qualitatively Speaking...but there are hundreds and hundreds of more qualitative postings. 
 
http://quirks.com/articles/search.aspx?searchID=70164869
Posted @ Tuesday, March 16, 2010 5:05 PM by Dan Quirk
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