How are social media networks and communities being leveraged for market research to support product developme?

There are lots of tools available to monitor brand and company sentiment on the social web. Companies like Right Now Technologies, Radian 6, and Alterian all offer enterprise level tools to leverage and monitor social networks.

Some of these tools offer filters that can scan social networks for people product ideas that relate to your products. For example an ipod related search might yield a post on twitter that states “I wish the Ipod was waterproof”. These posts can be quantified and then incorporated into your product road map.

Crises management is also a key feature. Tropicana recently switched it's orange juice carton back after a new carton design got a lot of negative feedback on the web.