Nielsen launches pop culture social network

Cory Bergman September 24th, 2007

HeyNielsen launched in public beta today, and it’s an interesting effort by Nielsen to expand into the consumer web space. HeyNielsen is a social network where users share opinions and discuss their favorite shows, movies and music. “It could be an effective mechanism for Nielsen to explore — and define — a wide variety of experimental media and marketing research,” reads the press release, which follows below the screen grab…

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ — The Nielsen Company today began the
public beta testing of Hey! Nielsen, an online social network site for a
diverse range of pop culture enthusiasts who are eager to make their voices
heard to Nielsen clients and other decision-makers in the entertainment
industry.

Developed with Affinitive, a pioneer and leader in word-of-mouth (WOM)
and social media marketing solutions, Hey! Nielsen could be an effective
mechanism for Nielsen to explore — and define — a wide variety of
experimental media and marketing research.

“Hey! Nielsen gives lovers of pop culture an opportunity to sound off
online and to make their voices heard by decision-makers,” said Karen
Watson, Senior Vice President of Communications at The Nielsen Company, and
Executive Sponsor of Hey! Nielsen. “If you’re passionate about any aspect
of the entertainment world, you will find like-minded consumers on Hey!
Nielsen. We hope this will be a fun place to share opinions and discuss
your favorite shows, movies and music. And because we will be providing our
clients with insights from Hey! Nielsen members, joining the network is a
way to let the entertainment industry know what you think.”

Nielsen will also launch Oye! Nielsen, a Spanish-language version of
the website 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 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.

— 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,
Internet buzz and raw data from sister companies including Billboard
and The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen BuzzMetric’s BlogPulse.com, a key
input into Hey! Nielsen, monitors nearly 60 million blogs every day. A
significant percentage of the blog buzz deals directly with
entertainment, and this data will be woven into the overall Hey!
Nielsen Score.

— 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.

The information collected on Hey! Nielsen could be important step
toward metering and understanding user engagement around entertainment.
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 (TV ratings), SoundScan (music), Nielsen
EDI (box office information), 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 The Nielsen Company 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 http://www.heynielsen.com.