Companies are realizing the economic benefits of formalizing corporate involvement in Facebook:
Facebook can provide consumer insight at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods (Woodcock, Green, & Starkey, 2011) as well as easy integration of contemporary and traditional research methods. The confectionary brand Skittles, for example, has a Facebook group linked to the brand’s overall advertising strategy, which has enabled members to give their views via Facebook Polling (a service offered by the site for providing “quick answers to simple questions”, Poynter, 2008) as well as by clicking links to externally hosted traditional surveys (Poynter, 2008).