Why Communities are more powerful than Panels

During a meeting with an Ethnographer yesterday, we were asked a very straightforward question that prompted me to write this blog and clarify the fundamental difference between research panels, and those things that Dub builds; namely private online  communities for insight and innovation purposes.

Panels have been used for many years, both online and offline. They consist of a group of pre-selected individuals that assist research companies by completing surveys and questionnaires. Panel members are ‘recruited’, meaning that they meet several criteria set by the commissioning company or agency, and they usually have a history of taking part in surveys, thus showing a willingness and compliance.

Communities for insight & innovation, as we prefer to label them here at Dub, are also recruited, although this often happens quicker by taking advantage of existing online networks. Fundamentally, the objective of research community, hosted online, is to allow its members to collaborate on tasks and activities, and to encourage them to ’share’ or ’socialise’ their experiences and ideas so that others can comment on them and/or add to them.

Group-think, or co-creation is an important benefit and function of online research communities, and one that the isolation of panels cannot provide. By allowing community members the chance to work together, share ideas and rate or add to others ideas, the good stuff (ie the best insights) will rise to the surface. This filtering  mechanism also provides provides an excellent way to test new concepts and ideas on groups of consumers.

Another benefits of research communities is that they are always on-call. By this we mean that as the interface is a PC, the community member can take part and complete the tasks and activities on their terms, be it in their home, at work, night or day. This is more natural to them, and removes the barriers and tension of being in a room with strangers. It also impacts the rewards and incentives they require in a positive way. Often, these can be in the form of social and emotional rewards as well as financial and physical. Play and gaming are two other very compelling techniques to encourage participation and get the most out of your community members time.

Online research communities also allow you to access often hard-to-reach people that would otherwise be unable to take part in focus groups. These include the disabled, time-poor professional and frequent travelers.

The research communities that Dub develop require management, or Community Management as we label it. Community Management is part moderation, part facilitation, and part communication. It’s a point of contact with the community that enriches the insights and builds new relationships that can be valuable to brands outside of the research arena. The Community Manager needs to engage the community and steer the discussion. They will respond and provide feedback to tasks, giving the community the knowledge that they are being truly listened to - something panels cannot achieve in the same way. As an example, if the community consisted of academics or experts in a certain field, feeding back a summary of some of the findings would in itself be reward enough for their time.

The Community Manager is also responsible for spotting interesting insights and discussions as they happen. Using our Knowledge Dissemination Tools, these can be quickly passed to the client and their colleagues, and made central to business decision-making.

So you see, panels and research communities are very different. Each has its benefits, clearly, but the quality and richness of insight provided by online communities is far greater. Most importantly, the idea of many heads being greater than one can be put to work in group-think sessions. This in itself will deliver a multitude of new ideas and concepts that can help position the brand and retain it’s innovation edge.