LinkedIn and Twitter are viewed as more effective than Facebook or Google+ for gathering intelligence on competitors and consumer trends by market intelligence decision-makers, new research claims.
A survey of decision makers found that 62.5pc of companies monitor Twitter and 69.4pc monitor LinkedIn as part of their day-to-day intelligence activities.
However, Facebook and Google+ are not regarded as essential sources to monitor, with just 47.2pc and 35.2pc of companies monitoring these sites regularly.
In an era of near-constant hype about the value of information to be gleaned from social media, it’s interesting to note that 21pc of companies are not harnessing the benefits of social media as a source of valuable insight and intelligence.
Watching the detectives
This despite the fact that two-thirds (60.6pc) of respondents are currently in the process of planning intelligence projects.
“A small proportion of companies remain cautious about the potential value of social media monitoring but the vast majority see it as a complement to the full spectrum of intelligence gathering,” Digimind’s associate director, Patrice Francois said.
“There is a tendency for some people to view social media monitoring as something which solely benefits B2C environments but it’s fast being adopted by a wide range of businesses and organisations for unearthing valuable intelligence insights,” Francois said.
Image of social businessman via Shutterstock
