Late last week, I was asked to search the blogsophere to see what I could find out on the prevailing views within a controversial industry. With the correct keywords and tools, I was able to cull some recent and relevant postings together however; I noticed something rather bothersome during the searching phase. There were “posts” which were simply press releases that were copied from its original source. As a matter of fact, there were a lot of posts of ripped releases or articles that I had to discard in my search.
Based on the Wikipedia definition of a “blog”:
“A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.”
The keyword to focus in the definition is “commentary“. Since when has copying and pasting press releases passes as commentary?
Any posts that are just mere press releases or republished articles should be considered a trap in the blogosphere. A trap that will get you to visit a blog without an value added content on it. There are millions of blogs online that do republish snippets of articles HOWEVER these blogs provide their own insights into the discussed topics.
There is no doubt that as a competitive intelligence researcher, I have fell into the trap many, many times. Besides a very good search tool that has a filter to weed out blogposts that are copied releases and articles, these traps will continue to appear.
One possible way of curtailing the growth of these traps is making present and future bloggers aware of possible guidelines of writing a proper blog.
I often wondered if there was a way of conducting a query with Google in which you could only have the results selected from the most recent indexed page on the web.
Fortunately, Tara Calishan over at ResearchBuzz had the same thought as me and created GooFresh.
GooFresh is an application which permit you to perform searches on Google but only on the pages indexed today, yesterday, in the last 7 days, or the last 30 days.
The tool is located on the ResearchBuzz website where you can simply plugging your keyword(s) and select the period of time to establish the parameters of your query.
Whenever the term, “competitive intelligence” is tossed around many people tend to mention research strategies to find relevant information. Unfortunately, the other side of the equation, “the analysis” is often ignored. The analysis is an essential part due to the fact that it aims to put into context the gathered information strategically to reach objectives.
Knowing that analysis is a valued added tool to competitive intelligence, it is necessary to become familiar with the vast amount analysis tools. Many may think that the application of the tools should be done by someone with a MBA degree however; they are a few that are relatively easy to master.
Let’s start with the SWOT analysis tool.
The SWOT analysis allows individuals to evaluate their current situation internally and externally.
The tool assess internally:
- Strengths - What strengths can the firm build upon?
This can include: market share, profitability, personnel, branding, etc…
- Weaknesses - What weaknesses can the firm improve upon?
This can include: corporate image, operations, patents, trademarks, etc…
The tool assess externally:
- Opportunities - What opportunities can the firm take advantage of?
This can include: market trends, new technology, new suppliers, etc…
- Threats - What threats should the firm avoid?
This can include: social changes, economic environment, political environment, etc…
With these four elements in mind, searching for relevant information is made easier for a researcher. Findings for a SWOT analysis should be placed in a framework as seen below.
Although this exercise is a straightforward process in terms of evaluating a firm in relation to its internal and external environments, it serves a foundation for another analysis tool called, “The TOWS Matrix”. (The TOWS Matrix will be covered in a future blog posting.)
News is one of basic elements that fuels a competitive intelligence unit. News that is gathered from various sources and analysed can flows into an unit via difference vehicles. Portals, alerts, RSS feeds, newsletters, etc. Say what?? Newsletters???
Do people still read newsletters?
Are newsletters still a valuable competitive intelligence asset?
Some may think that the creation of newsletters have become irrelevant thanks to RSS feeds and matching newsletter applications. I do not believe it is not entirely true.
THE important element that is always lost in a debate such as this one is the human element behind the creation of the newsletter. The filtering process is very important when it comes to selecting the right content to be in the newsletter. On the surface, many think that the filtering process only deals with keyword identification and spotting doubles however; it goes deeper.
At the heart of the filter process is keeping in mind the client’s key intelligence topics (KITs). In short, KITs are the questions that you are attempting to answer within the information product. For example, a client who would be interested in the future of consumer products industry should be kept informed on the latest buying trends. Yes, you could set your RSS reader to push to you content with the keywords, “consumer products” and “trends” etc, however; how many articles will be relevant to Person A in marketing, Person B in R&D and Person C in product design?
The underlying point of my example is the only the competitive intelligence professional (a human being) can ensure that relevant strategic and tactical information gets to the right person in a timely fashion taking into account the constant battle of information overload.
Hello, my name is Ian Smith. You may know me from such blog posts as, “FI: Facebook Intelligence - Part Deux or “The Critical Eye Of Internet Intelligence Searching“. I have been “asked”, to join this new media center platform to blog on the subject of competitive intelligence when it comes business development strategies and web 2.0. From searching methodologies to internet tools, I will be here to bring you my insights based on 10+ years of experience in the field of competitive intelligence.
I should warn new readers of this blog that I tend to be a tad cynical at times and it can be seen in some of my posts where I can go off on a rant.
If you would like me to cover a specific topic on this blog, please let me know.
