Bulletin boards are one of the earliest and most stable forms of online communication. They are asynchronous, meaning that everyone can participate in their own time, and the discussions are usually organised by topic as ‘threads’. In some boards the moderator is only there to oversee the rules of posting, and the participants introduce new topics, often by asking questions.
In boards that are used for market research, the moderator may have to be more active, encouraging posts, giving feedback and getting the participants to comment on issues raised by others.
A moderator posts questions (by text, video or phone message) and participants respond on a private message board in their own time. The moderator can allow them to see and comment on others’ responses, as well as uploading stimulus material and asking respondents to upload photos/videos, and participate in interactive exercises.
Some platforms describe bulletin boards as focus groups, but this underestimates their potential. A BB can handle tens or even hundreds of respondents simultaneously, involve them in a range of tasks and build long term relationships with them . (Although typically its tens of people for a couple of weeks). Rich media is another aspect, you can have video-based boards; many will take uploads from mobiles, and most incorporate whiteboards for visual and projective exercises.
Bulletin boards don’t sound very sexy, yet they are full of potential. This may be the reason why they are increasingly being called ‘forums’, ‘video diaries’, ‘blogs’, ‘communities’ and ‘co-creation’ platforms. They can be used for pre and post tasking and following up on in-person research.
There are good reasons for using bulletin boards – longer and more creative relationships with a number of respondents, but also a few disadvantages and traps for the unwary. Respondent recruitment and management of engagement is a key issue.
Most suppliers of online focus group platforms offer a bulletin board as well. Like online focus groups they can work well internationally, as long as there is adequate preparation and understanding of the meanings different cultures attach to different forms of communication. Some bulletin boards are more focused towards immersive research, particularly Revelation Global and QualVu.
The Global Village Project 2007 is a case study that still gives sound principles for using BBs internationally, while this 2005 NOP Paper on Using Bulletin Boards for B2B is one of the earliest case studies, but still relevant. (Although the technology has come on a long way since then)
There is free /low cost software for private social networks that can be used in similar ways to create small communities, although that has its drawbacks as its not intended as a research platform and therefore does not offer some of the necessary tools.
