Jeffrey Henning’s #MRX Top 10: All Atwitter About Twitter Surveys

By Jeffrey Henning

Of the 1,910 unique links shared by the #MRX community in the past two weeks, here are 10 of the most retweeted.

1. Twitter and Nielsen announce branded survey plans – Last week’s Research story on Twitter’s partnership with Nielsen for surveys is worth a more detailed look: Twitter’s new tool is designed to enable brands to measure the effectiveness of “Promoted Procuts”. Here’s the initial news from Twitter, a welcoming response from Coca-Cola and balanced reaction from nine industry luminaries.
2. #Twittersurvey: You knew this was coming – Reg Baker of Market Strategies responds to Twitter’s planned survey offering, saying, “So here we go again, ready or not.  Twitter, Facebook, Google, Mobile, Big Data – we are going to have to deal with all of it. Will we dig into all of it in a systematic way to figure out what’s really there and what it can tell us or we will just accept it all at face value?”
3. Surveys can be Big Data too – Brian Tarran of Research shares an EMI case study, where they invited 150 data scientists to analyze 1 million survey responses about music collected over the past 3 years across 30 countries. “In the data industry, surveys get a bad reputation. Data people think surveys are a little imprecise, they worry about quality, they’re not sure where the samples are pulled from and the number of interviews isn’t that big compared to the number of records they are used to dealing with in their databases,” says David Boyle of EMI Music. (Oh, the irony!)
4. So Apple, now you’re doing more consumer research? – Chris Matyszczyk of CNET is shocked that Apple wants his feedback, continuing the disproven meme that Apple doesn’t do market research. Make sure to read the comments.
5. Will market research still exist in 20 years? Ben Leet of uSamp fears that quantitative data will be so plentiful in the future, and its analysis so automated, that there will be little need for human researchers for these tasks.
6. Big companies, big data – Research magazine features statements about Big Data from the CMO of Ford, the CBDIO (Chief Big Data Insights Officer!!) of Coca-Cola and the MD of Security for Orange. Ford tackles big data down to that compiled by automotive sensors, Coca-Cola looks to social media and its supply chain, and Orange embraces voice analytics and customer service metrics.
7. Evidence giving way to gut instinct, fears Poynter – Ray Poynter of Vision Critical discusses the need for bigger solutions to research methodologies than gamification, behavioral economics and mobile surveys.
8. Clientside researchers ‘must master business languages’ – Brian Tarran of Research recaps a panel discussion involving John Fryers of GlobalRadio at the Vision Critical client summit: “We need to have the ability to communicate with all disciplines in their own language and understand the pressures that are on them.”
9. Google, Twitter & Facebook Oh My! The Implications Of The Twitter/Nielsen Deal For MR – Leonard Murphy takes a different perspective on the Twitter deal, analyzing it specifically in regards to the Nielsen partnership and its impact on the research industry.
10. Do Companies Care About The Quality Of Market Research? – Neal Cole provides tips for client-side and agency researchers on how they can work together to improve research quality. “Market research is a collaborative process and unless all parties work together we will gather data, but we are unlikely to gain much insight.”