Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-1 Internet Marketing Intelligence Chapter 8 An Introduction to Internet Newsgroups
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-2 Objectives Explain what newsgroups are and how they are organised. Outline proper netiquette for interacting with and posting to newsgroups. Explain how to conduct surveys within newsgroups. Provide a directory of useful Internet resources on newsgroups and discussion groups.
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-3 Internet Newsgroups An ongoing bulletin-board system, where people can post questions and responses, and discuss virtually any topic imaginable Open to the public, anyone can participate Can be moderated or unmoderated
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-4 Organisation of Newsgroups Most newsgroups divided into hierarchies based on the topic or region Usually two names the first describes the general category the second defines the more specific topic
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-5 The Big Ten 1. comp (Computers) 2. rec (recreation) 3. sci (science) 4. soc (society) 5. talk 6. news 7. misc (Miscellaenous) 8. humanities 9. biz (business) 10. alt (alternative)
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-6 General Newsgroups Google Yahoo!
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-7 Newsgroups for Marketing Research Environmental analysis Competitor analysis Product feedback Marketing products
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-8 Netiquette for Newsgroups Find out the purpose of the newsgroup Read the FAQs Maintain the quality of newsgroup messages
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-9 Netiquette for Newsgroups (cont.) Commercial postings and announcements Copyright issues Signatures Spamming
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-10 Posting Messages Be polite, reasoned and to the point All newsgroup messages asking questions should end the subject line with a question mark ‘?’ Review the 24 rules on writing proper articles in newsgroups (p. 160)
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-11 Posting Surveys in Newsgroups First post an invitation to participate. A lengthy survey will dissuade people from filling it out. It is virtually inevitable that some respondents will post completed surveys to the entire group, as opposed to forwarding them to the researcher.
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-12 Conducting Surveys in Newsgroups In situations where you want a simple answer to a question or two, format your question to show that it is less formal, and simply from a fellow newsgroup user. Remember, however, that there are certain ethical implications if you do not make it clear you are gathering research information.
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-13 Conducting Surveys in Newsgroups (cont.) In some cases, a researcher want to do more than ask questions and solicit opinions. Newsgroups can also be used as a tool by researchers to gather quantifiable statistical information.
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-14 Conducting Surveys in Newsgroups (cont.) Newsgroups are a virtual community where many experts on the topic, and non-experts who are interested in the topic, gather together. It is important to be able to contribute something of value to the community while you are gaining something from them.
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-15 Finding Out More About Newsgroups: or s.html/ This is the official homepage of news.newusers.questions, a Usenet newsgroup whose purpose is the dissemination of questions and answers about Usenet and the Internet.
Copyright 2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Internet Marketing Intelligence by Edward Forrest 8-16 Summary Newsgroups and discussion lists form virtual communities of people who are joined online together by a special common interest. Newsgroups represent unique and distinct psychographic segments of the Internet population and are a valuable source of marketing data.