Analysts of social media

| 19 Comments

When Jeremiah announced that he's joining Forrester, it got me thinking about how few analyst firms are writing about social media. You can't turn around with bumping into Forrester, and Jupiter is doing some work, but the other big firms are nearly invisible in this space. So I asked around to see who else might be doing something interesting.

So far, the impression that Forrester and Jupiter are most interested in social media is holding up. They certainly have the most analysts who not only cover the space but also participate in it.

CompanyAnalysts
451 GroupKathleen Reidy
Aberdeen GroupJeff Zabin
AIIMDan Keldsen
ABI ResearchMike Wolf
AMR ResearchJon Yarmis
Burton GroupMike Gotta
Forrester ResearchJosh Bernoff, Brian Haven, Peter Kim, Rob Koplowitz, Charlene Li, Jeremiah Owyang
GartnerNikos Drakos, Rita Knox
GT&A Strategic MarketingGraeme Thickins
IDCRachel Happe, Karsten Weide
Jupiter ResearchDavid Card, Nate Elliott, Barry Parr, Emily Riley
Nemertes ResearchIrwin Lazar
RedMonkMichael Coté, James Governor, Stephen O'Grady
Yankee GroupJonathan Edwards, Anette Schaefer

And, of course, you're already reading the blog from Social Target. I don't have the throw weight of a publicly-traded company, but interesting things are in the works.

For a broader view of analyst bloggers, see Technobabble's Top 100 analyst blogs.

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19 Comments

This is very useful, I subscribed to all of these analysts blogs, except one doesn't have RSS!

You're right, participation is key, it helps one to understand the tools.

This is exactly how my feed reader got out of hand...

Nathan

Take a look at the RedMonk group, they may apply too.

Thanks for putting this together - list making is an all-too under appreciated act. Nice also to discover your blog via Jeremiah's tweet.

Hey Nathan, thanks for this. It was the same way during the late 90s when the Internet services firms got started. The big research houses were way late to the party.

Realistically, it may be they are more a reflection of their clients who are not asking about social media (yet).

Tell me, what makes someone an "analyst"?

Jeremiah, I thought of RedMonk, but I wasn't sure about their coverage of social media topics. They're certainly a group who understand and use them, though. OK, on the list.

Marshall, welcome. I hope you find more useful material here.

Susan, that's a good point, which is supported by Peter Kim's announcement of the delay in updating the brand monitoring Wave. When I tell people what I'm working on, though, I usually get pretty excited reactions. I don't think clients will be waiting much longer.

Allen: Yes, that's the question, isn't it? There was a discussion last month, but I doubt there can be a definitive answer.

Nathan - Honored to make the list, thanks for the mention! Interest is definitely continuing to bubble and boil - definitely curious that Gartner doesn't have more through behind this, but there are also far more strange activities to ponder in this world, eh? Some of us are looking forward, others are looking in the rear-view mirror, and some of us are going cross-eyed doing both! ;)

Keep an eye on us at AIIM, we have a good handful of things brewing on the social media and social networking front - should be quite a bit of fun!

Cheers,
Dan

Watching, Dan, thanks.

Hi Nathan, thanks for the mention. Just keep in mind the tip of the iceberg vs. what's behind the firewall...

Jeremiah, I wouldn't miss Peter. He's just hard to pick out of that long list.

Peter, that's a fair point, and it's one component of that throw-weight thing. The external blogs do seem to be a useful indicator, though, and one that particularly benefits your firm in comparison to other major players.

Thanks, Susan, for asking the question that had to be asked!

Nice list ;)

While we may not write about social media and friends all the time (though we certainly do plenty), it's certainly one of the top 3 topics we talk about with people "off-blog" if you will.

http://www.amrresearch.com/AboutUs/Analysts.asp?EmpId=385

Jon Yarmis joined AMR Research in November to cover social media.

BTW, you might want to check out SageCircle's blog as one of our topics is the analysts, AR and social media.

Thanks, Carter. I added Jon to the list. I subscribed to your blog recently, too.

hi
do you have an update list of Analysts in social media - news
thx lars

A lot has changed in 3 1/2 years. The major firms have armies looking at social media and its many offshoots, and new firms have launched. I haven't updated the list, and I'm not convinced it would be worth the effort. Sorry.

so the big 3 are
Gartber
Forrester
Yankee group
thx

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About Nathan Gilliatt

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  • Voracious learner and explorer. Analyst tracking technologies and markets in intelligence, analytics and social media. Advisor to buyers, sellers and investors. Writing my next book.
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