Twitter and Market Research [5.21.09]

Lately it seems that all the world is a flutter about Twitter. Is there any relevance to research...

Before we get too far here, let's do Twitter 101.

What is it? Twitter is a platform for people to provide 140 character updates about themselves.  (And yes, spaces are included in those 140 characters.)  To give you an idea of what 140 characters is like, this sentence numbers 77.

How do I do it?  First, one signs up for a free Twitter account.  After that, you can Twitter away.  But you need “followers” in order for those “Tweets” to be seen.

How do I get followers?  Getting followers is a mix of chance and marketing.  Perhaps the easiest way is to follow someone else (usually no approval to do so is necessary).  That person might start to follow you.  And someone who follows that person, might see you as a follower too and begin to follow you.  The cycle builds upon itself.  I have about 90 followers. Some people have 500,000+.  If you post about a topic (ex: trains), odds are that someone is searching on that key word (via a program like Tweet deck), he will see your post, and then he may begin to follow you as well.  You can also put a Twitter link on your web site.

Where can you Tweet?  You can post Tweets via the Twitter site, via iPhone and Blackberry apps, via specialized apps that reside on the desktop, via text messages...It’s very decentralized.

What else?  Your Tweets can include links to web sites and pictures which are hosted on other applications like TwitPic.

Now that we’ve got the basics down, what are the implications for market research?  The short answer is, I don’t know.  But it will be interesting to see what happens.

The longer answer is this:

• 140 character updates are quite limiting.  I often need more than 140 characters to get some insights.

• Twitter could be a very useful real-time addition to asynchronous methods like bulletin boards.  For a recent study about contact lenses, we just asked people to Twitter us about their experiences at the doctor’s office.

• It’s a cheap way to get feedback.  Using one of the various third-party applications, it’s easy to mine for comments about your brand or product.  If you have a number of followers who meet a target profile, it is simple to lob a question out to them and get feedback.

• It could be an efficient way for recruiters to find respondents.  Again, with some simple mining tools, they could find people talking about things related to client projects.

• Since Twitter is free and open, I would be loathe to post any confidential information or product images on it.

• I liken Twitter to a giant cocktail party.  I overhear lots of interesting things but if I really want to learn something from someone, I need some quality time with them.

What do you think?  Tweet me (JSquareOne) and let me know in 140 characters or less.