In the b2c listening category, the award went to Vision Critical and Nascar, which set up a community of 12,000 fans for research purposes. Not only were research costs drastically reduced, but new insights emerged which led to changes of Nascar rules which were enthusiastically received by fans.

Brian Moyer, who heads up research at Nascar, said: “The Fan Council has created a shift in company culture as it relates to consumer research with nearly all departments embracing insights from our most avid fans.”

In the b2b listening category, Communispace and retailer CDW took home the award for their work on a research community that influenced CDW’s sales techniques. Communispace was also recognised in the ‘b2c embracing’ category for its work on an online community for publisher Scholastic.

A total of 13 awards were given out in b2b, b2c, employee and non-profit sectors, in categories including talking, managing, supporting, energising and social impact.

Forrester’s Josh Bernoff said in a blog post announcing the results: “These awards are based on business performance, and with 140+ entries this year, they represent truly outstanding social technology applications.”

The Groundswell Awards were begun by Forrester in 2007 to highlight companies that make the best use of social technology.