Today is the Main Stage segment of the second annual NewMR Virtual Festival, and many highly insightful sessions on various market research topics have occurred thus far. Since Kinesis recently introduced our new multi-mode online community solution, the presentations on this topic were of particular interest to us, and these sessions did not disappoint.
Due to a slight schedule shake up, Diane Hessan of Communispace presented “Online Communities: Mistakes, Misuses and Challenges” back-to-back with Felix Koch of Promise Communities, who presented “What’s Next? Five Predictions About the Future of Online Co-Creation.” This proved to be an ideal change because the two presentations offered a lot of synergy regarding how successful research communities operate today, and how they should evolve over the next few years.
During her presentation, Hessan shared some community best practice recommendations, as honed by Communispace’s extensive experience in running online communities for its clients. Some of her key takeaways were:
- Bigger is not always better – an ideal community size is 300-500 members, because as the number of members goes up, participation rates go down
- Communities should never be used simply as a means of delivering surveys – engagement is better sustained with multiple activities (an ideal split would be one third surveys / one third discussions / one third “other” activities)
- Researchers must remain focused on real listening instead of trying to create brand advocates – members want to feel invited to share their true opinions rather than be coerced into adopting ours, and they can always tell the difference (this argument could certainly apply beyond online communities to all research activities)
Next up, Koch offered his five predictions as to how online co-creation, which often occurs via research and social media communities, will change in the near future. He said co-creation will become more:
- Mobile – communities will have to support mobile interaction due to the escalation of mobile device use
- Engaging – competition for people’s online time will only get tougher and therefore communities must ensure they can attract and sustain attention
- Rewarding – as more participants become digitally literate and aware of the value they contribute, new incentive models will be constructed
- Playful – social games appeal to the online masses and are not limited to “gamers” anymore, therefore research gamification will continue to escalate
- Hybrid – communities will begin to combine both online and offline methods of communication to further enhance co-creation
The vast majority of the content from these two presentations aligns with Kinesis’ views as to the present and future of online research communities, and validates the future-proof functionality we built have into our new Kinesis Community™ solution. While market research online communities should not be utilized for all types of research, they do spur co-creation and provide insights that other research mediums cannot. Healthy and thriving communities are sustained by utilizing a community platform that is device-flexible, engaging, and highly advanced.
These conversations have been both necessary and productive; for undergoing a significant transformation without first fully exploring its implications would be irresponsible. We have discussed at great lengths WHY mobile, social media, crowdsourcing, etc. need to added to the research mix. But, far fewer have been the presentations on HOW to successfully implement these game-changers into our market research practices. I for one am hopeful that the fruitful conversations of 2010 will translate into the actions of 2011.