SmallBusinessNewz

Social Media is not only good for networking and marketing, but can come in quite handy for a bit of free market research as Kari Rippetoe at the Caffeinated Blog discusses.

This goes right along with what I've discussed before about utilizing the tools you have available to spend some time learning, and keep abreast of the things that are happening in and related to your niche.

I only mentioned StumbleUpon specifically as far as social networks go, though I included social networks in general as part of the online communities category. Rippetoe also mentions StumbleUpon, as well as LinkedIn, Twitter, Forums, and Niche social sites, telling you why each one is good for market research.

There's no reason to stop with these however (except for maybe time), as you can probably do well with MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Reddit, del.icio.us, etc. in addition.

Let's not forget about blogs either. Niche blogs can be a great source of opinions, but the comments are where the real discussion will often be found.

Rippetoe is absolutely right though. You can do a fair amount of market research for free, and this might be the more practical way to go for most small businesses that (as she mentions) can't always afford the expensive reports.