Hey! Nielsen Starts A Social Network

Yesterday we reported that CIA was starting a “social network” for spies. Now, we hear that Nielsen is creating one for, well, still not sure. But they are making one in Spanish too. From the beta site:

Um, wha?? Perhaps Nielsen Senior Vice President-Communications (and the site’s project manager) Karen Watson can elucidate. From MediaPost:

“We don’t know how people will use it. We hope people will come because they understand that we have clients who will be listening to them and want to listen to them. It really will be there Web site. It’s really about the users coming on and telling us what they think.”

Well, perhaps the site blog ramblings from senior content manager Steve Ciabatonni will help explain things.

We’re glad you’re here because we built this for you. Sure, a lot of technology, math and science went into building Hey! Nielsen, but in the end, the site boils down to your gut reactions. Haven’t we all experienced this scenario: You’re reading the paper on Friday and you see that a highly-advertised movie is getting terrible reviews, and I mean, hold-your-nose terrible. Cut to Monday morning when you find out that on its opening weekend, that stinkeroo movie was #1 at the box office. Oh, and that movie the critics were calling “stirring,” “important” and “Oscar-worthy,” doesn’t even crack the top 10. So, what do you trust, the box office, the critic, the annoying guy in the next cube with the hairplugs and the “SexyBack” ringtone who calls everyone “hombre?” In some ways it’s filtering all of all of the above along with your own experience and the experiences and advice from friends or co-workers you actually trust…..

Oh, and my apologies to anyone with hair plugs, I’m sure they look very natural… I was just making a point earlier about trusted sources. As for trusting this blog, you can be sure that my opinion or that of any other Hey! Nielsen staffer won’t be within 100 miles of the site.

And you can be sure that anyone with influence won’t be near it either. It has all the authenticity of corporate blogs and Chivas TV. Companies need to understand the web is not like Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” Maybe these online communities should arise organically through engaging platforms, not marketing ploys.