Nielsen Co. Monday began the public beta testing of Hey! Nielsen, an online social-network site for pop-culture enthusiasts who are eager to make their voices heard to Nielsen clients and other entertainment decision-makers.
Nielsen is hoping that Hey! Nielsen, developed with Affinitive, could be an effective mechanism for Nielsen to explore – and define – a wide variety of experimental media and marketing research.
Nielsen will also launch ¡Oye! Nielsen, a Spanish-language version of the Web site in January.
Although the site is still under test and development, users will be able to participate in the site’s main functions during this test period.
Members will be able to voice opinions and grade their favorite music, TV show or movie. These ratings and opinions will be available to other members, who can then respond with their own views.
Members will also have profiles and the ability to build a network of “recommenders,” or friends, giving like-minded members the ability to share ideas about additional sources of entertainment they might like.
Nielsen said members can contribute to the Hey! Nielsen Score, which will be a measurement system for the “buzz” on a star, TV show, movie and other entertainment property. The Hey! Nielsen Score is a combination of a number of factors including users’ opinions and ratings on the site.
Members will be able to install Hey! Nielsen “widgets” on their desktops or other social networking sites in order to track developments and Hey! Nielsen scores for entertainment they care about even when they are not on the site.
Initially, Hey! Nielsen will be able to provide demographic information, comments, and scores of each user that engages on a specific entertainment property. This information can be used as a supplement to existing products offered by Nielsen Media Research, SoundScan, Nielsen EDI and other services that allow clients to tap into consumers’ connection to media.
The development of Hey! Nielsen has been a cross-company collaboration within Nielsen Co. including Nielsen Media Research, Nielsen Entertainment, BuzzMetrics, Nielsen//NetRatings, Nielsen Games, Nielsen Wireless, Business Media, ACNielsen, and Custom Research. In this way, Nielsen can access the unique assets housed in each of these groups and others, and eventually offer products and services to the clients of these businesses.
The site, which was open only to Nielsen employees for closed testing over the past few months, is now open to the public at www.heynielsen.com.
