Hmm
I sounds interesting, but somehow I'm not convinced yet.
Tommy

I don't know all of the surveys I have seen are not direct comparisons. Also, there is all ready a wide number of survey sites. That and I have seen some of them use a unique approach to surveys.

For example: http://peanutlabs.com/

It sounds a little like other shopping viral sites such as the new pigsback.com.

However I think if you made the right mix of voting and fun activities this could be quite successful.

Everyone knows I'm totally addicted to facebook so I approve anything that links that in!

I think this is a very interesting idea. Here's a thought - instead of creating this as a stand-alone social network or even as a Facebook app, why not use this as an option for other Facebook or OpenSocial apps to use as a monetization engine? For example, let's say I'm developing a Facebook app where users try to earn points to purchase virtual gifts for each other. Right now lots of Facebook apps are making money by saying something like "Fill out this boring marketing survey and earn 10 points!". What would be cool is if you created a fun way to do market research, and then created a revenue sharing model that other Facebook apps could plug into. Now the Facebook app could say "Play this really fun market research game and earn 10 points!". The user has a better experience, the Facebook developer makes money, and suddenly you can piggy-back on the wave of Facebook apps and make a killing! It's the basic "make money during a gold rush by selling pick-axes" model. :)

Thanks for the comments.
Basically I want to make a market reserch method that dose not act like its collecting research from you.

Gods_light I think thecougar idea would be a good approach too.

Well I can imagine you could motivate some crowd to count how many people are going into a store, buy a specific product or take a specific path to the shopping center, maybe you can pay the crowd by the received pictures!

Good idea. I like the concept, and think it might be an effective tool, but it seems something like this site...?

I think if you made a face book plug in you would be breaking the Developer TOS "You can't show any ads or web search functionality on user profiles"

GL a very fascinating thought! i do like it!
but 'market research' i dont really believe that it will work directly!

Gods_Light, we commented on your idea in this week's IdeaWarz video. To reiterate our questions (and additional questions) here, how do people find your site? How do advertisers? How and why do visitors encourage their friends to visit the site? How can you coax the valuable profile data from visitors by offering a head-to-head competition (as entertaining as it may be).

I liked thecougar's comment, that FaceBook already has the profile data, and offers a good platform to focus on solving the making-it-entertaining problem.

Kevin_Cox - Note the wording on the TOS carefully: no ads on *profiles*. They do allow advertisting on the "canvas" pages, which are the pages that are behind the profile page. Many apps are making pretty good money using this technique, and this is a big reason why some VCs are starting to fund Facebook applications as they would any other stand-alone web site.

thecougar hit the nail on the head...

To give a little more commentary... applications can write things to your profile and your friends profile (really an application can write to any profile). So the Ad restriction is that when you application is writing to a users profile, it must not be ads.

But when a user clicks the name of your application, you are taken to a page specific to that application. That page, the canvas page, is not actually kept on Facebook's servers... they grab a page you the developer specify and wrap the Facebook look and feel around it.

So if you can get people to have a reason to visit your application canvas page, you can have lots of eye balls for ads.

Cool idea, i also agree with thecougar's suggestion.

it's funny but somewhat I'm concern, what people not equal to what they do. May they pick answer A but when they in marketplace they would buy product B.

I like your idea, But !

There is a saying "Garbage in, Garbage out".

Your proposal appears to have no safeguards against data manipulation.

CharonV I would be interesting in knowing what you mean by data manipulation?

Hi Gods light,

As you are aware, in order for a poll or a survey to be accepted as credible.
The pollster must find a way to insure the integrity and validity of his conclusions;which are to be presented in the final report which he gives to his paying client.

For this reason, most pollsters use "random" sampling of one sort or another. "Random" being the important element.

I may be wrong, but what you propose appears to be available to anyone with access to a computer and the NET ?

As you are aware there have been many instances whereby "special interest groups" get together via the net and disrupt various NET based competitions by voting en-mass. There were even suspicions of such a coup on this very site recently.

I like your way of thinking and feel that this can be developed into something special. However if you aspire to be the next http://www.Gallup.com you must take a leaf out of Gallup's book and search for ways to decrease the possibility of your research and conclusions being tampered with.

Good luck, you get my vote.

you got my vote since u r so passionate abt this.
:)

Thanks CharonV and Magickaito for your comments

good word man

VOTE FOR ME NEXT WEEK

Bhanu, While I thank you for your support next time try to be constructive.

"Note the wording on the TOS carefully: no ads on *profiles*"
Humm... OK, I can see it as a workable idea now. You have my vote.

I don't understand why someone would want to use this site. I'm also not sure if you understand why someone would want to use this site. To say 'because people spend hours on other, similar sites' is terribly naive.

This is not a 5 star idea.

Hi GL,
I think http://www.hotspex.com is exactly what you want to develop. I have been a user for some years and it is awesome! They have big companies as customers...and great prizes!
The main problem that you are going to face is traffic and prizes unless you have a great plan on how to deal with these issues.

el_Jivaro

Thanks for the comment.

I have 1000 characters to create a pitch. With those 1000 characters I can not tell you everything. I can however give you a taste and to give you a mental image of what the site would look like. By comparing the site to something you have seen before you get a mental image. something to refer to.

I have a plan to create content both from people paying (they get market data), and users (people can submit content) along with staff.
The content is going to be fun, and light and fluffy (no how to we stop word hunger).

I do agree there is still more market reserch to be done. I am working as we speak.

What is your opinion on what makes those sites so attractive?

Thanks for your comment.

I still don't see how you intend on providing value to the market you're researching. In other words, why would I GIVE you my opinion on two topics? What's in it for me? Is it the novelty of the site? Further, how are you going to verify my demographic?

I don't think people choosing one product from another, when they are in a playful mode, is *enough* data to determine what they would *buy*. How often do people shop for themselves?

More often than not, I shop for others. In other words, I may shop as a father, son, husband, and so forth. To me, the memento, price, form factor, others' recommendations, brand (and so on), are the kind of *value* that El_Jivaro is referring to, which is much more useful personalization criteria to a merchant.

If we were commenting in the context of the "Shop by Role" idea, I would answer every one of these concerns, but I won't steal your thunder :)

I like the fun aspects of the idea, especially if it's used in the *role* context above...:)

Gods_Light,

BTW, you said you were looking for a partner? So am I...;)

Perhaps we can get our heads together. Interested?

Comon gods you can do it
What kinds of parteners

General direction of the idea is ok.

1) It may be better if you narrow the scope to something specific.
2) As mentioned before, you need to provide some incentive to vote.
3) The code needs to prevent click fraud.

"prevent click fraud" That is a good point. There are BIG problems here.

Echen: Thanks for the great feedback.

1) I agree the idea has a wide focus for now, but I believe as the idea developers into a business the focus of the idea will become more targeted to a group of people. I don't know what the group is at this point so I do not want to gear this idea towards that and possibly lose out on another market.
2) The inventive is to fold, a weekly prize. Hopefully if the site is developed correctly it will be the community and the enjoyment of it. Like with Cambrian House, you vote because you like to, and with GreedyorNeedy. The social networking side of things will link you with people who answer similar to you allowing you to make new friends.
3)Yes click fraud is a problem, I assume you are talking about a bot or people just clicking on something to enter the contest. To a point I know we can program the site to weed these people out. Review the persons voting patterns, the time it took to vote, and other key variables then eliminate that data for the database. I am a strong believer in the Wisdom of the Crowds. I think while some people will try to manipulate the system for their personal gain, but the majority will create a honest representation of that target market.

Thanks for your feedback keep it coming.

Hi Gods Light,

I tend to agree with Kevin Cox, "Click Fraud" is a big problem.

Perhaps a method to get around this is, rather than have your audience
"click" which could lead to manipulation.

Use a tracking system on your website which gives you a listing of the address of all callers.( and or have the callers give you their contact details in exchange for the possibility of winning something?

You can then use this list to do a random poll. If you want to market this
to corporations they will require proof that the results are accurate.

Good luck, I like your idea but only gave you a 3. if you can solve this bit, i will increase to a 10.

I agree with El_Jivarro...what magic tool will you used to identify my demographics? I can assure you, I know hundred of classic books but my higher education pegged my salary under $15,000 a year yet I live lavishly and in style with in my community(except I can afford to install wifi in rural area and used internet cafe).

cool idea good luck

cool idea good luck

cool idea good luck

cool idea wish you luck

cool idea gl

I like the concept of using a game to do market research. Most market researchers just come to you with a long list of questionaires.