Research News: Mobile Surveys & EFM Mergers

Of the 1,078 unique links shared on #MRX last week, here are 5 of the most retweeted.

Mobile research: No time like the present – Jay Pluhar of MarketTools gives four reasons why researchers need to consider mobile:
1. “The world has gone mobile, and so has the web.”
2. “Mobile connects us to consumers in new ways.”
3. “Mobile lets you learn as you go.”
4. You want “the first-mover advantage.”
For an interesting rebuttal, not to this article specifically but to approaches like it in general, see this post from Reg Baker, president of Market Strategies International and industry curmudgeon: How to write a mobile research pitch piece.
Upcoming Events: Five major challenges with mobile research, and how to overcome them – Has Jay Pluhar piqued your interest in mobile MRX? Then check out Synovate’s free webinar next Wednesday, August 10.
Survey software firm QuestBack acquires Globalpark – QuestBack has purchased Globalpark, expanding its Enterprise Feedback Management presence in two ways: internationally (Globalpark is very strong in Germany and Austria) and by mode (Globalpark integrates social media research into its EFM system). As a side effect, this now makes Norway the European capital of Enterprise Feedback Management! (Confirmit and QuestBack are both located in Oslo.)
Our Take: What the Verint-Vovici and QuestBack-Globalpark mergers mean for the market insights professional – Oh to be an analyst now that merger season is here! Forrester analyst Roxana Strohmenger helps put these mergers in context; both support Forrester’s vision of unified feedback platforms collecting data from a variety of modes. (Also see my roundup of Vovici-Verint coverage.)
Crowdtap’s quest to measure brand influence in the age of social media – David Zax of Fast Company brings the details and the snark: Crowdtap has made up a unique way to measure brand influence which is so much better than other metrics you should buy from them. (I wonder if their brand influence measure subtracts points for snark?)