Listening to the Internet For Really Big Trends

I participated in an Economist story published this week called "Listening to the Internet," penned by Ben King. Compared to another recent Economist story on blogs and corporate reputation, this week’s story focuses on the value of unaided online discussion for consumer insights:

For example, ConAgra, an American food giant known for its Butterball turkeys and Healthy Choice ready meals, tracks discussion groups to keep abreast of new diet trends, such as Atkins and organic food.

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BBC Documentary On Citizen Journalism

I was interviewed for a BBC documentary on global citizen journalism (Web page link here and audio link here). I talked about some of the implications for corporations. The two sound bytes the reporter (Ed Butler) included were:

1) a single person can easily and quickly spark a corporate communications crisis, i.e.,

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What’s Wrong With the KFC/TiVo Promotion?

Put aside the fact that the Tivo-friendly KFC commercial with the embedded coupon code for the new Buffalo Snacker is no longer news. I’ve been pondering it for some time. I think it really was clever and creative, but I have my doubts about the sustainability of such a tactic.… Read the rest