NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Harris Interactive®
(NASDAQ: HPOL), a leading global market-research firm, today
announces the launch of word-of-network, WON(SM), a new
panel-based approach to social media measurement and influence that
can monitor the nuanced sentiment of a given target market.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100518/NY06801LOGO
)
WON is the first panel-based market-research metric to measure
word-of-mouth as it manifests in social media. It offers
quantitative categorization of comments about brands based on their
positive, negative, or neutral sentiments. WON also controls for
volume of conversation around a brand and provides clients with a
means to predict brand performance.
"Our research has shown that the word-of-network measure
filters out much of the potential noise that can pollute
traditional social media monitoring and yield very misleading
conclusions," said Jeni Lee Chapman,
Executive Vice President at Harris Interactive. She continues,
"There is a practical advantage when your 'friends' are members of
your panel. We can uncover a wealth of information about the
commentators that is largely unavailable from traditional
social-media monitoring programs, which by their nature can only
yield the most superficial information at best – and, at worst,
present a distorted picture of what is happening in the real world.
Our research indicates that a more comprehensive metric, like WON,
can provide an early-warning signal of a brand's real time
word-of-mouth."
The new WON metric is based on an opted-in panel of over 50,000
people. Harris Interactive monitors the panel to determine
the extent of online conversation about a brand or topic, as well
as key demographics, such as sex, age, income and any other key
variables, of those who are contributing to the online
conversation. "We know not only what is being said, but, more
importantly, what is being said by a given target market.
That level of distinction is vital to most marketers and is
what makes WON different from other social-media monitoring
systems," adds Ms. Chapman.
WON is a segment of Harris Interactive's BrandLife(SM) Tracking
program, which differs from other tracking systems primarily
because the data come from a single source. Unlike other
tracking programs that fuse data from multiple panels, BrandLife's
"listening" metrics are powered by the firm's proprietary Research
Lifestreaming® platform, an intelligence capability that connects
all data on and generated by distinct panelists, thus offering a
complete view of responses within the context of the individual.
Research Lifestreaming's holistic nature precludes the need to make
inferences and assumptions that are necessitated by fused data
systems.
Other characteristics of BrandLife Tracking include:
- A validated measure of equity
- A new measure of emotional connection that uncovers and
quantifies ambiguous feelings about a brand
- The ability to track exposure to micro-sites without relying on
metrics of "site visitation"
- The unfiltered voice of the customer/consumer to inform
contextually relevant brand positioning
- A platform that allows for surveys through mobile devices,
providing the opportunity to evaluate the respondent's experience
soon after an interaction with a brand, event, program sponsorship,
etc.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading custom market
research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business
acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight.
Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative
research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of
industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs,
energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media,
retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in
over 215 countries and territories through our North American and
European offices and a network of independent market research
firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that
help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what's next. For more
information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
Press Contact:
Corporate Communications
Harris Interactive
212-539-9600
press@harrisinteractive.net
SOURCE Harris Interactive