Social network boom fuels research 2.0 initiatives
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US-- Two new projects have joined the string of initiatives harnessing social networking to gather insight from consumers.
A Wisconsin-based start-up, Networked Insights, is setting out to conduct research through social networks created on its clients' websites, and has already secured $1m of funding.
The firm was founded by Dan Neely, who formerly set up and sold Market Performance Partners, and was director of strategy for internet consulting firm Scient.
Meanwhile the Brand Science Institute, a non-profit marketing think tank, is hoping to use social networking technology to “transform the familiar stranger into the friend next door”.
The MyNeighborhood project, currently in beta mode in locations in North Carolina and California, is the result of research suggesting that, as people become increasingly isolated from others around them, online communities could help improve social welfare.
Nils Andres, creator of MyNeighborhood, said: “This is important in a time where people are lonelier than before and sometimes struggle to find help for the simplest things like an easy task in their apartment,” he said. “We would like to measure how often people use MyNeighborhood as a neighbourhood Wikipedia, in order to understand who helps who, where and why.”
Andres said that by focusing on a local area, online networks can strengthen real world communities, rather than creating separate online communities and behaviours. After the current beta stage, Brand Science Institute aims to launch the network in other cities including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The two launches are the latest in a slew of social network-based research initiatives, including Nielsen's new network focusing on entertainment, the announcement of a major survey to be conducted in the online virtual world Habbo, and the release of a ComScore study highlighting explosive growth in the use of networks like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, concluding that the phenomenon is “more than a fad”.
Author: Robert Bain
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