Subscribe to Optaros RSS feedIn Forrester Research's recently published Market Research Predictions for 2008, Brad Bortner argues that:
Top brands will rein in the power of Web 2.0 and put communities to work. Leading companies like Oracle and HP have already built online communities that solicit customer involvement. These communities offer potent opportunities to embrace customer-driven innovation in product development. Expect at least one-quarter of the Fortune 100 to announce online communities in which they learn about and create higher levels of engagement with their customers and markets.
Participating in active communities with consumers - not just surveying from behind a mask of a focus group, but actively engagement them online - creates a critical advantage for the companies who invest the time and energy to do it well.