Mining Blogs for Research

Great piece in today's WSJ about companies mining blogs for research.

With the continued growth and popularity of blogs, companies are now paying more attention to what is being said, about who and which products.

New research is springing up as a result, but the cost can be anywhere from $2,500-10,000 for refined results worth anything.

Looks like what companies care most about is getting "to the pulse," and pulling down "mined" data as quickly as possible to assist with key strategic decisions.

BuzzMetrics is out there studying online interaction through "word-of-mouth influencers," a list of thousands of bloggers, message-board posters and other people they have deemed influential in the online community. Hell, I should be teaming up with these guys. Excellent idea, but $10,000?

Client NewsGator already has a nifty feature in their Online Services that allows you to track information on your competitors or any key word you choose for that matter. It will deliver it to you on your desktop -- web browser, inside Oulook -- or mobile wireless device. All that for $5.95 per month. Aggregators are great for managing information overload, which increases daily -- for me.

I started tracking 12 blogs and news sources and now I'm up to close to 50. Something's gotta give.