A company called ConAgra Foods, Inc., recently benefited from chatter in cyberspace. Apparently it assigned some employees to hang out on message boards and figured out the low-carb fad was fading. ConAgra changed its menu accordingly.
It’s no secret that companies follow blogging trends even if they don’t have company blogs. Following blogosphere chatter is cheap, relatively easy, and valuable. ConAgra probably saved millions by simply surfing to food discussion groups instead of relying on focus groups. If you’re a company with a strong online presence and you’ve got your ear to the “cyber stone” (that was terrible), good for you!
If you’re a company with a weak online presence and you’re not paying attention to the online world, you need to read the linked article and hire me. 
From the Washington Post:
Following online conversations is the latest attempt by companies to grapple with the growing clout of their customers. Empowered by the Internet, consumers can broadly express their skepticism of brand icons, demand the lowest prices and mobilize for action. In recent years, many companies have tried to influence consumers by generating their own favorable word of mouth. But measuring sentiment expressed in cyberspace — whether provoked or not — has always been difficult. The high-powered new technologies aim to fill in the missing pieces by searching, tabulating and assessing Internet postings.
To capture the chatter, Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a giant in the industry, uses software that collects hundreds of thousands of comments a day. The technology can scan for specific companies, products, brands, people — anything searchable. It can slice data into a range of categories to quantify the number of times a subject was discussed online, the individuals who mentioned it and the communities where it appeared.
Cyber cheap, cyber cool. The web in general and blogs specifically are great places to find out what’s going on with your customers, potential customers, products, competitors, and consumer trends. Catch the wave and surf into the 21st century.
(Image from An Atlas of Cyberspaces)
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March 8th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
“you need to read the linked article and hire me.”
Good point
March 11th, 2006 at 2:29 am
My “thing” is, this company paid people to go online to “see” that the lo-carb trend was fading? What a waste of money. That’s like a poll I heard on the radio one morning that said after months of study it was discovered more Blacks than Whites celebrated Black History Month.
You don’t have to lurk online to follow trends. You just have to walk around and observe. Talk to a few people you know, it was obvious before it started that the lo-carb fad would fade fast. Extremes NEVER work.
If companies are shelling out money to people to do what I do daily for free. I really can’t complain. I just wish I had heard about so I could have cashed on.