Companies Mine Blogs for Market Research

The Wall Street Journal notes that companies are mining blogs to see what is being said about them, giving "rise to a new kind of market research aimed at finding useful information in the sea of online chatter."

Ford's European unit hired a firm to help it watch the Web last year, the article notes, but the trial soon ran into trouble. The company found that "it couldn't act on the new data fast enough." Three months after it began, Ford discontinued the project.

"To make full use of real-time information, you need to develop an internal structure that can react at the same speed," says Tim Holmes, executive director of public affairs for Ford in the United Kingdom. Duh!

Kevin Dugan also reports on the Wall St. Journal story today.