The Next Evolution Of MROCs

In the past two years, market research online communities (MROCs) have come of age as a research method that's now reality more than hype, but the use of and business model around communities are evolving. In the next two years, MROCs will still retain their role as a resource for quick-turnaround qualitative insights, but they will also increasingly be used for more strategic innovation projects, and new capabilities in social and mobile applications will give members greater flexibility in how they participate. Furthermore, the vendor landscape will broaden as agencies step in to provide the research services that platform providers are shying away from.