LIVE FROM RESEARCH 2006: Will blog research spell the death of focus groups?
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Corporations should start harnessing the power of blogs to gain insight into what consumers think of their brands, according to James Cherkoff and Johnnie Moore of Collaborate Marketing.
The number of online consumer diaries doubles every six months, with 75,000 new blogs created each day, Cherkoff told delegates to the Research 2006 conference.
These blogs are read widely – with 28% of US web users reading them – and command a high level of trust. “That's one of the surprising things about the blogosphere,” said Cherkoff. “The level of trust between strangers.”
He also warned sceptical corporations that the blogosphere is “no longer the geek fest it once was”. Last year, blog site Live Journal had a 2:1 gender split in favour of females users, said Cherkoff.
So what does all this mean for the research industry, which traditional has been the main facilitator of the dialogue between companies and their customers?
Cherkoff' co-speaker Johnnie Moore was reluctant to “predict the demise of focus groups”.
“But,” he added, “companies can read the thoughts of consumers for free via blogs.”
