Staying Connected, Staying Ahead

From the pressures of managing new media to the advent of technologies likeSmart Grid, utilities providers face a range of unfamiliar challenges. Like anyone in an alien environment, these companies need information to make sense of the landscape and help them develop a plan of action. Happily, research firms like FGI have the tools and capabilities to equip them with much-needed insight. Using online research methods such as communities and social media monitoring, utilities providers not only enhance their grasp of the trends but leverage their knowledge to adapt to and overcome change.

Print Media Declines, but is it Dead?

Online content is gaining ground, aided by the release of e-readers like the iPad, and it has hurt some print publications; but others are going strong, and three-quarters of consumers say they don’t want print media to disappear entirely.

Most media leaders concur that print media is floundering. Trends in technology, communication and markets reflect that fact (Steve Jobs just ushered in the next wave of online content readers with Apple’s iPad). An entire genre of journalism seems to have emerged just to cover the decline, not only in print but online. According to the New York Times, sixty-two percent of journalists think the Internet has forever altered their profession’s principles, eroding the standards of good journalism and the relevance of print publications alike. Still, new data from FGI Research indicates that print may yet have an audience. While 67% of consumers surveyed say they see a decline in the use of print versus other types of media to stay informed, 74% say they “would not prefer that online publications eventually replace print publications ...

Twitter Is Growing Quickly, But Does It Reach and Influence Your Target Market?

We’ve all seen eye-popping statistics about the growth of social media. They read like this…

• “If MySpace was a country, it would be the 5th largest in the world.”
• “In 2006 there were 2.7 billion Google searches per month; today, there are 31 billion.”
• “The first commercial text message was sent in December of 1992, now the number of text messages sent every day exceeds the population of the planet.”

And the list goes on. To be sure, there is a tremendous amount of online activity, but does it reach your target market, and more importantly, does it influence them? In our latest TrendTruth, FGI Research set out to determine the current reach and influence of social media’s newest star, Twitter.

Making it Work: The Impact of Scarce Job Opportunities on Marriages in the U.S.

As the job market continues to decline, FGI Research began questioning its impact on married couples and their lifestyles. Mainly: was job scarcity causing married couples to have long distance relationships?  We turned to our SmartPanel for answers.

Advanced Methods Lend Insight into Demographics

We polled a significant number of respondents who were nationally representative in terms of their demographics using our tested method, known as iGAGE.  Our study showed that 10.3% of married couples, with at least one working partner, were in long distance relationships.  Of these, 70.83% said that the separation was due to the U.S. economy.

Interestingly, respondents over the age of 30 were much more open to the idea of a long distance relationship than those ages 21-29.  Of those who said that they’d be willing to live apart, 86.4% were over age 30.  Exploring this further, we discovered that the majority (62.2%) of respondents would only be willing to maintain this type of relationship for less than 3 years.  Finally, although 50% women said that they would live in a long distance ...

To Tweet, or Not to Tweet?

In an age of rapidly increasing uses for social media, Twitter has emerged as a social network that provides up-to-date data on consumer reactions.  While it is still quite uncertain whether or not Twitter will rise to the popularity that Facebook and MySpace have experienced, the site is certainly seeing a vast increase in users month after month.  Connecting to customers through sites such as Twitter will be influential in creating relationships and gaining “followers.”