The amount of information available today on the Internet is simply staggering.  A lot of what is being said about any company or brand is being verbalized online.  While the corporate world is beginning to understand the importance of tracking online conversations; the Internet is often too vast and confusing for a company to handle without proper research guidance.  At Hispanic Research Inc. we stay abreast of the latest online trends and know where to look for information.  We also know very well where our Latino community congregates and where Hispanic consumers are expressing their opinions.  And most importantly, we are experts on analyzing and interpreting what is being said.  Here is a partial list of places where we seek information.

• Blogs

  Regardless of what the subject matter is, there is someone out there with a passion to write about it!  These bloggers are self-appointed journalists that have a pulse on what is going on in their field of expertise.  They are often connected to the community at a grass-roots level and their insight is sometimes far superior than what can be gathered through other research methodologies.

• Social Networks

  Socializing online has become the preferred way to stay connected with family and friends. Latinos enjoy the ability to share pictures, video, music, and text messages over their favorite networks.  While Facebook is very important among Hispanics, Latinos are also fond of MySpace and Hi5.  We gather additional insight by using the respondent's profile on their social network.  For business we also gather information through Plaxo and LinkedIn profiles, LinkedIn groups, and other network Q&A forums.

• Forums

  Apart from networks and blogs, the forums are live communities where you can not only listen to a conversation, but also join and interact by posting a question.  Forums, like blogs, are found on almost any subject area and represent and excellent source of insight.

• Twitter

  Twitter has become such a phenomenum that it desrves a separate entry.  It is not a social network or a blog; but it mixes charcteristics from both.  Twitter is a fantastic tool for gathering extremely timely insight.  It is also a wonderful vehicle to get to information on blogs and socail networks.

• Websites

  As the Internet becomes more accessible, people expect corporations to have most of their information available through their website.  Company websites are also a conduit to product specific forums and support groups.  The usefulness of monitoring websites is not limited to business information; today many consumers have their own personal website with information that may not be available anywhere else.