By Aaron Field

I was just shopping for a blu-ray player. Being conscientious and confused I devised a research plan (sound familiar to anyone?).

This is what the Internet taught me:

• The information density of the DVD format was limited by the wavelength of the laser diodes used. (Wikipedia)
• The LG BD670 is not the prettiest Blu-ray player on the block (PCMAG.COM)
• “I bought the Sony BDP-S1 for the house for Christmas and we really got a lemmon (sic).” (Amazon.com user review)

as the kids would say. Utterly confused on what to buy.

Social media-based research feels eerily like my pathetic blu-ray research. A tremendous amount of information is Irrelevant, Opinionated by idiosyncratic “experts” and Unrepresentative of average consumers (with indifferent spelling).

Happily Social Media provides its own answer. Passionate communities are hubs for well-defined demographic segments (see http://babies.com/) and high-value customers (http://www.flyertalk.com/).

Essentially you know who is talking – a major advantage in the internet world. No wonder Insights teams increasingly find passionate communities reliable, truly expert, and representative of a specific consumer.  Whether you build these communities , find these communities on the internet, or create your own (see how Charles Schwab did it), they are a valuable asset alongside MROC’s.

And if you know anything about blu-ray players drop me a note. I am still searching.